I have to tell you that it made me VERY happy to find a short yoga video about creating space to include today. The video, of course, is about creating a feeling of space in your body and my advice tends to be about creating a feeling of space in your mind but, since we are all very wise and sage people, we know that that distinction is arbitrary, don’t we?
(If we were talking in person right now, I would be giving you an exaggerated wink so you’d know that I, too, know that while the difference is fairly arbitrary it doesn’t always FEEL that way. I do think that we are all wise and sage though, even when we feel foolish.)
ANYWAY!
For these last few days of December, I have been inviting you to consider ways to make space for your future self – even as you use self-kindness to make space for your current self.
NOTE: If you are just here for the videos, please scroll on down. I’m about to get chatty.
Today, I want you to think about how to make some mental space for future you by removing or changing a recurring hassle . That is, figuring out ONE small annoyance or frustration you can remove for your future self.
I’m thinking about things like the basket in the corner that is not *quite* big enough for the things you want to store in it so things keep falling out.
Or about the fact that your measuring cups are on a shelf that’s a bit too high for you to easily reach so you end up either making do with a regular cup or you take down all the measuring cups and then leave them on the counter.
Or the fact that everyone in the office keeps asking *you* for the same piece of information (a phone number/copier code/person’s name) over and over because they can’t seem to remember it.
Or the fact that something needs its batteries charged or that there’s a branch that makes a weird noise against the house when the wind blows a certain way or the fact that there is nowhere to lay your keys down near your front door so you end up misplacing them on the regular.
I don’t know what kind of recurring hassles take up your mental space but these kinds of low-key hassles end up occupying a lot of my mental real-estate – both in the moment and whenever they cross my mind.
But the thing is, those are the kinds of hassles that often don’t get dealt with because they seem like they shouldn’t be a big deal or that they aren’t worth the effort to fix or that they wouldn’t be a problem if we ”just” did…whatever thing that we clearly have trouble doing.
But it IS worth dealing with these things if they free up your mental space.
You have enough things that you *have* to think about without letting this stuff crowd its way in, too.
You don’t have to deal with every hassle at once though.
Today, I’m inviting you to just consider one thing, whatever pops into your mind first, and then make a plan to take care of it.
Get a bigger basket or store some of the things elsewhere. Find a new spot for your measuring cups. Write down the number or the code or the name. Charge the batteries. Cut the branch. Get a hook for your keys.
If you can’t enact your plan right away, schedule a time when you will take care of it.
Knowing that you have a plan and a schedule will immediately create some room in your brain because you will be able to stop asking yourself when you are going to take care of the thing and you will stop admonishing yourself for not having taken care of it yet.
By the way, if this is a thing you have been meaning to get to for a while but you just couldn’t do it, please be EXTRA kind to yourself if it ends up only taking a few minutes. Yes, the task was small but the obstacle was large and hard things are hard – being mean to yourself in the process doesn’t make them any easier.
If you have multiple things to take care of but none of them have a deadline and none of them seem obviously more urgent than the others, pick the one that is first alphabetically or the one that will make the most visible difference. When there is no obvious place to start, it doesn’t really matter WHERE you start, it only matters that you start somewhere.
This is about reclaiming some of your own mental space for your future self. You don’t have to pick big things, you don’t have to pick obvious things, you only have to pick things that matter to your current self and your future self.
And, as always, I wish you ease in the process.
⭐ <<<<This is for your efforts in figuring this out.
The yoga video about creating space made me happy but so did the fact that this meditation video is specifically about breathing space. SPACE! We all deserve a bit more in the places where we want and need it.
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.
