Site icon FIT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE

Making Space 2025: Day 24

Christine Hennebury
A small drawing of the number 24

For some of us, this is Christmas Eve.

For some of us this is just Wednesday.

For many of us, it’s something in between.

For all of us, it’s near the end of a busy month.

At this point, it’s really hard to know what kind of space we might need to make for ourselves.

Maybe we need some focus.

We may need something restful to do.

We might need to make space for movement.

We may need a mindful activity (and, remember, almost any activity can be done mindfully!)

And all of those needs are important and they all matter – because YOU matter and the things YOU need are just as important as all of the other needs you support on a day-to-day basis.

So today I’m inviting us all to find ways, even small ways, to give ourselves what we need right now.

Maybe you don’t have time for the hour long nap that you need, but perhaps you have time for a short break that will be helpful even if it doesn’t fully meet your needs.

Maybe you need a half an hour of high intensity exercise to sort your cluttered thoughts. But if you don’t have half an hour right now, maybe you can do a shorter workout and do some sort of list that gets all of those things out of your brain so you can see them clearly.

Maybe you need a long, slow meditation to soothe your nervous system and help you feel more like your favorite self. But if you are feeling hurried and frustrated, that might feel impossible right now. Perhaps you can try for a shorter version of your usual practice or you can ask yourself what ELSE helps you to feel like your favourite self and give that a try.

(When I take my list out of my head onto paper onto a screen, it becomes easier for me to see which ones actually need to be done. Which ones I can delegate and which ones can actually wait quite a while before they need to get done but inside my brain, they feel equally important.)

I guess the key thing here is to recognize that it is OK for you to need something and it’s OK for you to try to meet that need, even if you have to do a smaller version for now.

I know you probably have a lot of competing priorities and a lot of things to get done for others but please try not to put your needs at the very bottom of your list.

And no matter what you need right now, what you want right now, or what you have to deal with at the moment, positive or negative, I wish you ease with it.

As much as possible, may you have peace in your heart and in your mind.

Here are two movement practice suggestions for today:

The still image of this Yoga for Brain Power video from Yoga with Adriene shows Adriene with her hair pinned up and wearing black leggings and a gray sleeveless shirt. She is standing on a yoga mat that is divided horizontally into two different colours of grey. She is doing tree pose with her left foot resting on her right inner thigh while she’s standing up and she has her arms raised above her head. She is smiling and looks happy. Her dog Benji is asleep behind her next to some large plants in pots, there are windows behind her and there’s also a table with plants and some decorations on it nearby.

In the still image for this jumpstart cardio workout from Fitness Blender the instructor sitting on a blue yoga mat with their legs crossed and their hands in their lap. There is a large light haired dog sleeping next to them sort of curled around the right knee. The instructor is wearing two layers of tank tops one peach and one blue and they have on black exercise pants. Their long hair is parted on one side and is hanging down past their shoulders. They’re smiling and they look happy.

And here are two mindfulness practices for you to try.

In this 5 Minute Mindfulness Art Meditation Practice from Nicole Schyns, the still image is divided in two parts on the left-hand side. The instructor is shown with their eyes closed, sitting in their living room in front of a low table. They have a pencil in one hand and they’re holding an object in the other. They are wearing a long sleeved light brown turtleneck, and their long brown hair is pinned up on top and hanging over their shoulders on both sides. On the right side is a close-up of a couple of their drawings so they have but looks like two rocks the actual items there and below them are their drawings of those items. One of the rocks looks like it’s made up of a bunch of different small pieces or maybe covered in barnacles and the other one is a gray rock that is almost semi-circular.

And a steel image for this 10 minute Guided Meditation for Inner Peace from Declutter Your Mind you can see a wooden dock that extends through what looks like a merch with plants growing up on either side to a a lake with trees on the other side of the lake that are reflected in the water.
Exit mobile version