With the end of the year in sight I have spent the last few weeks combing through the projects and ideas I want to invest in for 2017. I normally divide my year up into quarters but this year I have planned it all out month by month. I know that can sound a little insane but since September I have given myself a real shake up about how I treat myself and how I keep my promises to myself. I have had so many little creative projects hanging over my head for so long that I just want to, at the very least, make good stead on all of them. I have had to prioritise and reorganise to ensure that I put my well being above all else. The last thing I want to do is burn out half way through the year so exercize, meditation and the freedom to quit if it costs me more than I am willing to give are necessary. Part of any goal setting is giving yourself to freedom to say goodbye to it if you learn to recognise that goals are actually sometimes only stepping stones to something else. There is a difference between quitting because things aren't going your way and just not being used to keeping a promise to yourself. You are worthy of your own promises but the first promise to yourself is to honour who you are at your core.
I personally love having lots of things on the go at once. It actually fuels a lot of my creativity and it actually keeps me more productive. If one project has come to a halt there's another that I can look at. What I have learned to love over this last year is to adopt the “little and often” way of getting things finished. I squeeze tiny projects into my day to day routine and normally within a year of small daily goals they are done. I am learning constantly about how many hours there are in a day and I also try not to let these projects invade my weekend. I keep that space for me and my fiance and of course downtime! This weekend I sat in bed and watched a few movies, ate too much chocolate cake, walked the dog, set up the xmas tree ( finally ) and had a lovely, normal weekend. Keeping that space as sacred means that I force myself into routine during a Monday to Friday. This last few months it has weirdly helped me to stick to Stuarts routine of up at 7 and work till he comes home at 7. After that it's us time. Balance is something that continually interests me. I need to have a constant awareness of what it is.
Sometimes, when we look at balance through the lens of the ego we see it as “pizza slicing” your life up. Balance is actually creating space enough within yourself to look at who you are and check in. Balance is the question, “Does this honour me at my deepest level?”. If the answer is no, then stop. Life doesn't always feel good and fluffy but that doesn't mean it doesn't honour you. Leaving a job or a relationship isn't always butterflies and kittens but if at the end of the day you can sit there with a full ( albeit sometimes slightly bruised ) heart then you are working in the space of balance. Don't confuse the feeling place of honest actualisation with a postcard of how balance has been sold to you. Balance doesn't always look neat and shiny, sometimes you are exhausted, grubby and bouncing off the ceiling with a slight caffeine addiction. I think it's always healthy to create from the inside out and always from the space of prioritising love first. No matter how long I have spent working on my goals for next year balance as given me the option to scrap the whole lot and start again without the option to think badly about myself for doing so. Balance is simply knowing who you are, what your priorities are and working that into the goals and expressions that you create for yourself. Keep that in mind when you are creating your lists for next year!
Thank you,
Big Love,
Ryan James x
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