My view every evening so far this month
Today is the summer solstice which symbolizes two things to me: we’ve reached the midpoint of the year and my oldest son’s birthday is in just two days!
My oldest will be 16 on Friday and it sorta freaks me out. It feels like I was only 16 myself a few days ago, but obviously, when I see this man-child who now is taller than me even when I’m wearing my 4″ heels… well, suffice to say, I also received the invitation for my 20th high school reunion this week, so me and 16 haven’t seen each other in awhile.
I’m not sure if it’s my age or having children (or both!) that makes me feel like Time has sped up. I wistfully remember when the time between Monday and Friday seemed to take a year. These days, as far as I can tell, there is no time between Monday and Friday. The whole week should just be called Montuwedthriday to make it easier on me because that’s about how quickly the days slip by.
And that’s exactly why I launched my “Year of Inspired Living” project… to attempt to slow time down or, at least, to feel as though my days have been filled with something better than a simple loss of time or slogging to the next weekend.
When I look back over the first half of the year, I’m pleased to say I’ve accomplished several things I set out to do:
- started a podcast
- experimented creatively
- improved my diet
- conquered the clutter in my closet (well, technically, the hubby did that, but I still count it as an accomplishment!)
My progress in living an “inspired life” has come in spurts…little steps forward with (what feels like to me, at least) longer periods of sitting still. When I started this project I had no idea that it would include tackling a lot of my own internal “stuff”… sitting with little monsters and holding them as they expressed emotions that had been repressed for many, many years.
It wasn’t always easy and there were days when I really wanted to self-medicate. But I didn’t. Instead, I learned to give myself comfort, to hug my monsters and tell them “it’s okay.”
I’m still learning to celebrate the small steps forward as victories. I still remind myself that it’s not about how much progress I made through a large list of “Should Do, To-Do” tasks. It’s about being as present in today as I can be and doing what I can do right this minute.
It’s about making the choice to live inspired in THIS minute, each minute of the day.
So… I didn’t “accomplish” (with the big A) as much as I wanted to accomplish by this point in the year.
Who cares? I wrote a bit, I drew a bit, I played with my children.
I launched my own company, finally finding the work that allows me to use my talents and be of service to the world.
Everything is in progress and that’s okay… in fact, when I think about it, that’s MORE than okay.
This is INSPIRED LIVING.
And I’m getting a little better at it each day.
