We’re all emerging from various illnesses (I say emerging, but what I really mean is poking our heads out for a rattling cough before more germs bury us in for the rest of the season.) The holiday season was anything but in so many ways. Going into the new year has meant just sort of cracking on regardless. Back to the meal plans and school drop offs and 7 AM meetings (the toughest of all things) and overdue library books and getting your steps in. It goes on and on relentlessly.
Was this how it’s always been?
I listened to a very good podcast this week, where the author talked about how your life has chapters. My interpretations is that some chapters are solely dedicated to character development and others are when the plot moves forward. I feel like we’re deep in character development at the moment. But I don’t want to be one of those books where everything culminates right at the very end before the last page and you think, well I could have done with far less exposition.
That’s why this year’s word is Shift.
It doesn’t feel like the type of year to make significant changes (I’m tired!). But it does feel rife for little rethinks. What would we need to shift in order for other things to be true, or to make space for what’s new. What character development could we slot into another chapter so this one becomes a little bit more plot and we’re not left feeling a bit ripped off right at the end?
I don’t have the answer. But I feel like it’s ripe for a change.
The world has felt different lately. And I think when you have too much of the same, you eventually reach enough pressure in the system where the release valve becomes important before the entire system shuts right now. It is about finding that release valve just in time and then staying on it.
What are the release valves in your life? What would have to be true to help you shift? Stay tuned - I’m trying to find mine.
A few things to think about:
Motherland: a fun BBC show to help you get through a pile of laundry
Holding life consciously from On Being with Krista Tippett
The companion essay to the podcast above by Anne Helen Peterson