Hey, what makes you, YOU??
Sept 12th, 2023 – If you don’t have time read this whole email, then here’s the main point I’m trying to make: do something that fills you (and makes you feel like yourself)! Regularly, make it a habit!!
Lately, I’ve had several fun friend gatherings with gals I’ve been friends with for a long time…decades long. I’m so incredibly grateful for that! What I’m more grateful for is that we still seek to gather even though it’s few and far between.
One group is from waaaaaaaaay back in the ’90s (omg so long ago but doesn’t feel like it!) when I was a young teacher at St Stephen’s Episcopal School here in Austin. Several of them were in my wedding. We used to go out all the time for Happy Hour (before kids and then even when we had portable tots, too). After several of us left that school, we still got together annually to watch the Miss America pageant (yes, yes we did!) as an excuse to see each other hopefully once a year.
True story: one year we actually attended the real live Miss America pageant in Vegas! We really did!! Some of us even rode the rollercoaster on top of the New York New York! Never have I screamed that much! Not sure I’d do that now…but what memories we made!! (PS I don’t love Vegas, but it does check some boxes for fun sometimes)
The other group I still make time for is a handful of fabulous women from my old neighborhood’s mom’s group. We started hanging out in the early 2000s; there’s no bonding like “new mom” bonding! You support each other through teething, toilet-training, every virus under the sun, and keeping your household alive! And by now, we’ve gotten each other through sending kids off to college and even one wedding!
Women friends are the best.
NEWS FLASH: we will never be less busy. Time will never just open up for us to say, “hey, I’ve got absolutely NOTHING going on…whatever shall I do with my unspoken-for free time??”
That will never, ever happen! If time opens up because an appointment cancels, we tend to just tread water or zone out and scroll until the next thing.
Instead, we have to MAKE the time.
And interestingly, the things that we MAKE time for are all the more important and feed our souls.
Taking time for you is of paramount importance. Notice I said, “TAKE” not “wait for” or “fall into”…you must put your stake in the ground and TAKE IT.
When you take time for yourself, you are fed, nurtured, and fortified to handle all the garbage that is just waiting to come at you.
Got it? I mean it so much that I’d poke you in the chest if I could, because it’s that important for your livelihood!! (lightly poke…)
Some things I do to fortify myself:
-take deep breaths (intentionally and slowly)
-pet my cats (paired with those deep breaths sometimes!)
-spend quiet time (almost) every morning with a cup of coffee, a crackling candle and my bullet journal (but NOT MY PHONE except to do Wordle, of course!)
-play music (feeds my soul! I love a podcast, but music wins)
-take short, brisk walks (ideally I want to do this more often WITH a friend, but I’m trying)
-declutter a drawer when the mood strikes (because I always find something I’ve been needing/missing and then I get rid of three times that much!)
-call a family member (keeping those connections seems harder and harder but it’s no less important!)
These are essential habits. They keep me barely hanging on in this crazy world. Reply here and tell me yours!
Can you relate to that cute rodent?
I bet you can! So for all of September, we are decluttering and organizing your email…anddddd it’s so time for you to join us
Thursdays at 12p CST for our 45-minute free Digital decluttering workshop! Or watch the replay in our supportive free Facebook group.
Own your email instead of the other way around!!!
