Make Space
The morning this post will go out, I will hopefully be somewhere in Zion taking in the great outdoors. Hiking is something I love. The image above is from my last trip to one of the other Utah National Parks, Canyonlands, where I stood on top of rock formations, closed my eyes, and just listened to the sounds of silence. I thought about the person I was, the person I wanted to be, and anything else I needed to think about in those moments. Getting exercise and being in nature is something that fills my soul. As cheesy as that sounds, it's true. If I go too long without creating space for myself to fill up, then I just don't make it. I become a person that I don't like.
The weekend following that one, I will be spending four days alone in a house working on my book. I won't be going because it fills my soul, but rather because it's my life-long dream to publish a book and creating space for it is one step to getting there. And it wasn't an easy step. I had to plan this months in advance. I blocked off my calendar at work before it filled up with meetings, so I could take the Friday and Monday off. I coordinated with my husband, making sure it was okay that I took our only car for the whole weekend. I said no to several social engagements that would have been a lot of fun because even though that food truck festival sounds delicious, we don’t have time for everything.
Both of these weekends are important things to make space for. If I want to be my best self, I need to fill my soul, and I need to challenge myself to go after what I want. The reason both of these things can be hard to do is because we often try to add them to our lives without removing anything else. We try to find balance, but as Kendra describes it on The Lazy Genius Podcast, it can often feel like trying to fit 3 suitcases full of stuff into one. And for some of you, I'm sure it already feels that way before you even think about space for yourself. You're probably like 3? Feels like I have 10 suitcases. When some of those suitcases are people, it becomes that much harder to try and slim down. You're not just leaving back an extra sweatshirt, you're saying no to someone's birthday party or quality time that you enjoy.
I know how hard it can be to let down the people in your life, and so I'm not going to pretend that it will be easy. I will say though, that if you ever have to cancel plans with me so you can do something that fills you and makes you more whole… I not only will forgive you, but I'll cheer you on. Let's not just get better at creating space for the things we need, but let's also get better at allowing the other people in our lives to do the same.
