Every Day is a Blank Page

Photo by RetroSupply on Unsplash

I don't know about you, but I have been struggling the second half of this year. In January I set serious goals for what I wanted to achieve in 2022. While I started strong, about half way through the year I began to lose steam.  There were exciting travels, fun  events and welcome visits from family and friends that disrupted my carefully created habits and distracted my focus.  Honestly, I am happy that my world has expanded agin. Life is short and as I age, having new experiences and connecting deeply with family and friends has moved to the top of my list. Guilt and regret still sneak in though.

How do you find a balance now we that life is speeding up again? I’ve never been one to fill every minute of my day. I love surprise and variety.  After 15 years of writing, however, I did find I needed to embrace a daily writing habit. To keep it from feeling like I was in an uninspired rut, I left what I choose to write during that time each day a mystery. I simply sit down and see what calls me - a blog, a magazine article, a new poem, a chapter for a new book.  

There are other goals I set this year that have fallen by the wayside.  I was determined to embrace practicing a small yoga based routine each day, as well as spend some a few minutes in meditation daily (either silent or listening to a guided tape).  Both still happen rarely, maybe once a week at best. My husband and I were also walking 5K most days. It was great for our health and as we chatted along the way, it drew us closer. With the changing weather that routine has ebbed.  

While I know many focused driven people who seem to be able to hit the mark consistently without fail, I know there are other like myself that seem to ride a roller coaster up and down, up and down, up and down. We have times of laser focus alternated with times where we are distracted and uninterested.  It's taken years of self-loathing to begin to embrace this, a necessity as the ebb and flow seems to be a natural rhythm for me. 

I remind myself often of the poster that shares every day is a blank page waiting to be written.  No matter what I have achieved - or not achieved - the day before, the idea that each day is a fresh start takes the pressure off.  Another truth I find freeing is that it important we give our brain time off - a respite important to creative thought.  Going non-stop from morning to night, never letting my mind wander unfettered, may drive me to achieve something, but it also keeps me too busy to notice the world passing by and to see unexpected opportunities trying to get my attention.

It' time to let go of that inner voice full of condemnation. It's time to let go of guilt and judgement.  It's time to let the past fade away. Today and every day going forward, I chose to focus on the new day ahead with excited curiosity. What will it hold? What will I create?  What new opportunities are waving at me from the sidelines, hoping I will give them a lift?

Skeptical? Get up every morning and while you have your morning cuppa, let your mind wander over your hopes and dreams. Decide on one single idea to focus on and fill your page all day with actions that take you towards that dream. Try it for a week - just 7 days - and see what happens. You got this.