In the spirit of putting the most important things as early as possible in your day, let me start by saying that today is my Mom’s birthday – Happy Birthday, Mom! I hope your day has the perfect amount of space in it.
As for everyone who *isn’t* my Mom, maybe you’d like to offer yourself a little space in honour of my Mom’s birthday. Think along these lines, “I’m awfully busy but it IS Carol-Ann’s birthday and traditionally one celebrates that by taking good care of oneself – just as she would advise us to.”
Is this actually a tradition? Well, I celebrated my Mom’s birthday on the blog last year so this is two years in a row – that seems like a tradition to me.
Listen, I know and you know that we don’t actually need anyone’s permission to make the space that we need BUT a lot of the time we find ourselves waiting for that permission – from ourselves, from someone else, or from the universe as a whole. If you have that kind of feeling today, consider this official permission to make that space.
On December 16, 2020, Martha was inviting us to Unplug – to take some time away from all of the devices that both bless and curse us. I fully endorse unplugging at whatever level works for you – after all, your phone is a device for YOUR convenience, not a device to put you at other people’s beck and call.
And, I invite you to metaphorically unplug from the need to wait for your rest, from the unconscious need to get permission to make space for yourself and I hope you can untie the knots that keep the word ‘should’ tied so closely to your decision making process.
Today, as you celebrate my Mom’s birthday by making a little space for yourself, I hope you find ease and I hope you find fun.
Whether you try the videos below or make space on your own terms, I hope you are kind to yourself in the process.
About Making Space 2022
About Making Space 2022
In December 2020, Fit is a Feminist Issue blogger Martha created a tradition – a series of reminder posts to take good care of ourselves during this last month of the year when it is far too easy to get swept up in your to do list, no matter what you are celebrating or not celebrating. Last year, it was my turn and after an introductory Go Team post called Give Yourself Some Space, I created a series of reminders called ‘Making Space‘ that offered a suggested short exercise video and a suggested meditation in case you needed an easy way to find space for yourself in your schedule.
For 2022, I’ll be doing the same thing but I’ll also be including a link to Martha’s post from the same date in 2020 and I’ll offer a few extra ideas for relaxation, creativity, and self-kindness here and there.
These posts are not about insisting that you do more, more, more during this busy season. Instead, I want to encourage you to remember that there IS a *YOU* who is doing all of the things and you are worth taking good care of.
Perhaps the things I suggest aren’t what you need in the moment. That’s totally ok. Perhaps you can use something else to create some space, something that will help you feel more relaxed or more in charge of your day.
