Realisations.
I woke up at 5am this morning, grabbed a blank piece of paper and a Sharpie and started writing a list of things I had to do over the holidays, starting tonight and taking me right up to New Year’s Day.
I filled every day with “stuff” – catch ups with friends and family, appointments, a goal-setting day, a wedding moodboard-creating day, a day to clean up my files and sort through my paperwork.
With a purposeful thud, I stuck my big black list on the pantry door (“in eyeshot, to keep me on track”) and ignoring the tightening of my heart, I started to get dressed so I could get out and hit the running track.
Not 20 seconds later, in a flash of early morning reason, I was back in the kitchen ripping that big, black list off the pantry door and throwing it straight in the bin.
To-do lists need a holiday too.
I’m all for structure and will most definitely step up to the plate when structure is called for. I get productivity, I get routine. Evernote, daily early morning exercise, lists, phone reminders, regular weekly blog posts et al… I’m talkin’ to you. I’m not envisaging the demise of the to-do list in my stratosphere any time ever soon.
I also know, however, that the times I feel most alive are when I roll over in the morning and whisper in my man’s ear “Let’s roadtrip baby, let’s just go wherever.”
No plans, no need-to-do’s – just the open road and a spontaneous heart.
So here’s to an unscheduled Christmas break. If you’re anything like me and feel like you’re “wasting” the day if you don’t have anything planned, allow yourself to unfold into this new, unfamiliar space as you refuel and re-energise for 2012. Leave room for the dance of life. Stay in bed all day with a good book, be open to spur-of-the-moment experiences – a lunch with a friend that turns into a wild night out, or a trip to the next beach that sees you hours away from home. Invite adventure in.
Gratitude.
As you pour yourself a glass of bubbles and share a belly laugh with your loved ones this Christmas, think of the things that have been magical and beautiful and eye-opening in 2011. What are you proud of? What are you grateful for?
Personally: I’ll be publishing a post next week that delves into my 2011 a little more, but above all, I’m proud of making good on my promise to myself to start a blog and I’m grateful for love. Simple stuff, but at the end of the day, isn’t love the most important gift we can ever give each other and ourselves? I certainly think so, and I’ve been blessed with lashings of it this year. Completely humbled.
“You can always take a fresh start” ~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
I’ll finish by saying that I’m taking a little bloggy break to recalibrate and will be back in the New Year, bursting with inspiring ideas and stock-full of creative moxie.
BRING. ON. 2012. The butterflies in my stomach (the excitable type) tell me it’s going to be our best year yet!
With warm holiday wishes and abundant dreams for us all,
Rach xx
Images: Ignite Light
