For the past few weeks now I’ve been acutely aware that we’re coming to the end of 2019. I’ve had ambitions to fill these last few weeks with lots of actions that would bring me to a greater sense of peace, fulfilment, financial security, health and joy. Each time I’ve thought about this remaining chunk of time I’ve felt both excited about how I could fill it, but also, and quite quickly after that feeling of excitement, overwhelmed and pressured to really ‘make the most of it.’
I had considered titling this email with something like ’33 days left’ or ‘make the most of the final month of the year’ but I realised that by doing that, I would feed everyone else’s inner panic about wringing everything out of the rest of 2019 too. And really, inducing panic in others is the opposite of what we’re trying to do here at Bird.
And so, I started to reconsider how I’d like to think about these next few weeks. I began to wonder what might actually feel helpful, and manageable at the same time. And I decided that just one simple word, one intention, might do the trick.
For me the word is love. And I don’t want to be specific about what that means – because that leads to another to-do list of who and how to love.
It’s just love.
I’ll just see how it unfolds. If I’m deciding on what to do with my evening I’ll consider whether it’s fuelling self-love or if it’s allowing me to spend time with people or animals that I love. If whatever activity is on offer doesn’t lean towards that then I’ll reconsider what I’m planning to do.
It’s ever so easy to try and pack a bunch of things in to the rest of the year, and inevitably feel overwhelmed and disappointed when we get to the 31st and we haven’t achieved all that we intended.
We over estimate what we can achieve in short spaces of time. When we want to make big plans it’s best to look further into the future so we don’t feel overwhelmed and rushed and pressured. Those shorter blocks of time respond better to light intentions and hopes for a touch more of what we want for ourselves.
With love, Hannah and team Bird