This truth has been rocking my world this week. I didn’t realize the connection between letting go in a simple physical way – like opening my hand – is the same skill as letting go of stuff I don’t use – is the same skill as letting go of what other people think of me… or envy, or judgment. I’m not there yet, on those last three… but I know my life will be more content if I decide to grow my letting go muscle.
Where do I start? I sat down yesterday and wrote a whole brainstorm whiteboard full of ideas that were about letting go and self care. From that board I picked out 32 favorites. Then I decided to go after those things – one each day for every day of June. It’ll be 31 days (I picked my favorites) of self care and it’s all stuff that I know I can do. If you’d like to join in on the fun, then connect with me on Instagram @CarmenRoseShenk and we’ll go through this together. I will post a simple self care activity each day – and we can all take a few moments to do these simple things to make our lives more contented. We can all get better at taking care of ourselves – especially when things are busy and chaotic around us. And that’s when self care matters the most!
Here’s an example: I know I should do the whole thing of going to the gym, working my bum off, and getting in shape. See? There’s that little word “should” that gets me every time. Could+Shame=Should. No thanks!! I have a negative reaction to the word “exercise”. (I can’t believe I’m confessing this!) LOL! However, I love very physical activities like dancing and cleaning out a closet, and painting, and walking around the neighborhood with my dawg who loves to stop and smell everything! Funny, those are all examples of exercise, but don’t tell. Because I want to be a person who exercises… and I want to do yoga and be thin and willowy and yada yada, but I’m not. That COULD change. (See how I took the shame out by changing “should” to “could”?)
Letting go is just like that. I can start with small things – like getting rid of ugly silverware. We’ve got some beautiful silverware, and plenty of it. So why do I still have some ugly silverware in the house? So that’s me thinking of ways I can start small and let go of some easy things in order to get the hang of letting go of some bigger things. This is a skill I want to develop. A muscle I want to grow.
Someone got in my car this morning and her energy was pulsing with wrath. I had a pretty big reaction to someone showing up on my turf and immediately throwing a sarcastic accusation in my face. I WANTED to be kind in response. I was direct. I was forthright – and that is progress. In the face of so much anger, I did not keep my peace. Letting go makes space for the good stuff. Like peace. Peace is good stuff! I’ve got my peace back now, but man… what a morning!
Personal development is a thing. Let’s grow some skills together, shall we? Follow me on Instagram and let’s do some intentional self care for the 31 days of June, ok? It’ll be fun.
Stay Tuned.