The Courage It Takes To Create Spaciousness
As we approach the summer, I have been working to clear out space in my professional calendar, in my kids’ extracurricular activities, and in my other volunteer commitments that sometimes pop up. The summer weather, outdoor activities, the smell of vacation on the horizon (or at least taking a long break) is so liberating. Even my kids are super excited to have no dance class in the evenings or the weekends and the freedom to just wake up and choose what we will do on any given day. I have been working hard on clearing out space for me and for my family. But it has been hard.
I realized a couple of months ago that it takes real courage to create spaciousness for oneself in this way. It means that you must enforce the boundaries that you set for yourself. Now the tricky part is that the rest of the world doesn’t really care or even know about your boundaries, so you have to consistently and fervently hold the line yourself. This has been a hard lesson for me to embrace…I am not good at holding the line for myself. But I am getting better. And I have my accountability partners, my family, and my friends who can notice when I am not enforcing my boundaries.
So, this summer, I am giving myself permission to create as much spaciousness as I feel that I need; without feelings of guilt or shame or feeling like I am going to miss something (still working on this part!). I am going to take a break…from everything! I am calling it a mini sabbatical, but it will be 6-8 weeks where I can just be myself, sit with myself, and let my body and spirit guide me to the healing and restoration and love that I have denied it this last year.
I wonder if, like me, any of you feel like life has been sort of a whirlwind where things and circumstances are thrown at us, and we are forced to adjust... immediately. This global pandemic that keeps taking from us, this burgeoning anger around the racial injustice, the deep display of divisiveness within our political system all creates this vortex that we feel like we cannot escape. Enforcing my boundaries is my way of lifting myself out of the vortex before it completely consumes me.
- Are you experiencing your own vortex?
- How will you choose to lift yourself out of the vortex?
- What boundaries do you need to enforce to create more spaciousness?
- As you have navigated the world during the past 18 months, what have you, unintentionally, denied yourself?