On My Mind
What a start to the year. I feel like the winds have changed. They seem to have swept through, taken everything known with them - and left us standing with an entirely new perspective.
The first couple weeks of a new year are always a bit of a floundering period for me. I never ever can just “adapt” and wake up feeling completely grounded. I often find myself feeling a bit skiddish and nervous for what the future might hold. And that might be a fault, but I think it’s completely normal.
Already this year there have been a few changes that have hit close to home for me. That, coupled with an increasingly tense social and political environment has me a bit on edge. I’m actively trying to take deep breathes. I’m actively reminding myself that not everything is up to me. Not everything needs my concern or worry. And ultimately I cannot (nor is it up to me) change everything.
I think we all crave feeling comfort, stability and reliance. We all seek something that will allow us to be our most authentic selfs, and that inherently calls for an element of comfort. When worlds are rocked just a bit, this idea of comfort can waver. It can be incredibly isolating, and can cause a great deal of anxiety for most, myself included.
However it is in these odd and rather swaying times that I turn toward the small yet very impactful rituals in my daily life. Most recently, I’ve become a celery juicer - yes, I juice my own celery. I have no end goal with it, I don’t think its a cure-all or a must do for anyone. I just love the taste, I love the act of juicing. It’s incredibly meditative, and leaves me feeling nourished. I’ve been doing this every morning and it allows me to feel as though I’m caring for myself - be it even in the slightest.
Another smaller thing I’m focused on is making our home. Homemaking is quite an art – one that I have yet to master, however it’s something that is incredibly nourishing to me. I want to be a curator of life, and bring it into my home. I want our home to feel full of life, comfort and meaning. Each object in our home is under a very critical eye right now. I’m slowly weeding out objects that no longer bring me joy, and am pulling back my palette to just the bare essentials. I think the objects that we surround ourselves with everyday say a great deal of who we are – and I want our home to be a curated collection of pieces that bring us the upmost form of happiness.
I’m not hyper-focused on working out right now. I’m letting my body just be. I take care of my body each and everyday, however I’m not currently in the mindset of applying strenuous movement everyday. I instead am focusing on what I put into my body and how I feel. The rest, will all come as it may.
I think the pressure to “get in shape” for the new year is one of the most damaging mentalities we currently have as a society. Instead, I’m letting my body tell me what it wants to do. I’m letting my gut tell me what it wants to eat.
It’s one of the hardest things – to tune out all of the social media buzz about #dailyworkout and #fitspo but sometimes you just need to in order to truly make a personal change. I scaled back who I follow on social media for this exact reason recently and it felt so empowering to quite literally shut someone off.
I think adapting is an art. I personally really struggle with change and needing to adapt at the snap of a finger. I am inherently a knowledge seeker – my first instinct is to try and understand why something is happening before I can calculate a new move. Be it the change of a new year, a change of workflow, change in physical or mental being – they all require a bit of navigating. So whether you’re going through a bit of a change at this point, or are experiencing a bit of acclimation – just know that it’s completely normal to feel off, or overwhelmed.
