It’s a new year, y’all, and the resolutions are flying thick and fast, or not. My Inner Viking looooves a resolution. Write down a goal for the New Year and then steamroller everything in my life in the pursuit of that one goal—that’s the way to a better life, or is it?
For one thing, 2020 kicked my butt and made me question all the ways I try to live a better life and why that’s even a thing. Two weeks with my kids all back under my roof made me question my incessant need for improvement. What’s so bad about my life as it is right now? My kids are AMAZING adults, all sassy and full of possibilities, striding forth into their 2021 with courage and humor. If parenting good citizens was my life’s goal, one I wrote a whole book about, then I believe I have achieved that goal. My resolution of the last 29 years is resolved. Now what?
I’m just spitballing here, but what about a New Year’s Evolution? What if we shelved the resolutions for a little while to apply critical thinking to what would make us feel more content and joyful? Let’s examine the rules we’ve been using to shape our lives and why they are, or are not, the way we want to live. Then let’s evolve a little with my tried and true method of changing stuff for the better—baby steps.
Evolving involves a lot of baby steps, steps so small that your inner resistance is lulled into submission. If your evolution is to be a writer, then writing something, anything, is going to be top of your list. Instead of looking at the blank first page of a whole book, try cozying up to one small page in a journal. Use a pretty gel pen to ease into it. This is how I wrote my first book,15 minutes at a time in my journals.
I’m using baby steps to ease into my next evolution of student/teacher. I want to further my education because: 1. I LIKE school; they give you a sure fire way to succeed (study) and immediate feedback (grades), 2. I love to learn, as I can feel myself expanding with each new lesson, and 3. I feel more confident when I’m evolving. I’m using baby steps to fill out graduate school applications. While it’s scary to go from teacher to student, if I don’t evolve, I will be doing exactly the same damn thing next year. Static is not a good look for me, as it leads to numbing behaviors designed to fill the Talenti sized hole in my soul. It’s much better for me to evolve, even if it’s scary.
If you are up for an evolution, join me in defining what you want to change. Just spend a little time with a piece of paper and a pen to dream a little. Next time, I’ll give you all the 4-1-1 on how baby steps can get you to a happier version of beautiful you!
If anything in this post sparked something, drop me a line and tell me all about it at terrif@findyourpride.org .
XO
Terri
