April Restarts and Resets

Two months in (new country, new continent) and I’ve reached a new milestone: I am overwhelmed by all the newness around me! 😱

I have been seeing signs of this building up for the last three weeks. The most obvious one was feeling the need to retract and recenter, yet I wasn’t allowing myself time to do that.

Planning is anchoring for me. Part of my uneasiness is coming from the fact that this year I haven’t yet managed to do my yearly planning..! In January, I was closing the chapter of my life in France; I thought I’d better do my annual planning in February, when I will be feeling excited about the fresh start. February came and went; the same happened with March. Is April my new January? I shall let it be.

As I am reflecting on the past quarter, I am noticing which of the new things I’ve tried served me well:

• Setting a yearly intention and frequently checking whether I am upholding it

I was able to say no to bland or stress-inducing 'experiments' to make space for the playful ones. #playful_experimentation

• Keeping various “Ta-Da!” Lists (— an idea I can trace back to Gretchen Rubin)

On days when I feel I am not making progress in areas that matter to me, I bring up my Ta-Da! lists and I am stunned by what I see. Did I do all that?! Self five! 👏

• Being brave enough to start this blog

These posts have been an avenue for me to process the changes and to articulate and communicate my needs. I thought that I was generally good at reaching out to my friends, but it’s been a delight to experience friends reaching out to me in response to my blog posts. (I am especially uplifted after the March post on missing nature in the city!)

As I am embarking on a new quarter, I am thinking of the permissions I need to give myself:

• It’s okay to feel disoriented and overwhelmed by the changes

• It’s okay to cut back on interactions and new experiences, until you feel you have the capacity for them

• I am giving myself permission to plan a 5-day solitude retreat for (and around) my birthday. I am giving myself permission to receive my friends’ wishes and love and not feel the need to respond when I need a sensory break from digital devices.

I have a bouquet of permission slips to share. 💐 There is a restart, a pause, a recommit, among them. There are blank ones for you to fill, if you need them. If you were to pick a permission slip, what would it say?