What can you do today that you could not do a year ago?
I’ve lately been obsessed with long lists of things I still want to reach, that I belittle my progress and all that I’ve already achieved. So when I came across this question, I grabbed my journal and gave it a try, in an attempt to help myself feel better about where I am in life.
Surprisingly, I ended up with a list of 50+ things I’ve only been able to do recently. I could see the impact that this year had on who I’m becoming, even though I’ve spent a large portion of it feeling like I’ve wasted a lot of time not doing what I wanted. So much of what I want to start, truly wouldn’t have been a possibility had it not been for all that I learned over the year, and that helped calm my anxiety.
Here’s a glimpse of what made it to my list:
🌸 Breathe. Really breathe.
🌸 Appreciate other art without comparing it to mine or feeling like I’ll never create something as brilliant.
🌸 Take up more space without always feeling I’m undeserving of it.
🌸 Wear brighter colors and accept the compliments that come along with it.
🌸 Feel/respond to the pain in my body, and understand some of what it’s trying to tell me.
🌸 Trust God’s plans SO blindly, especially when things don’t follow mine.
🌸 Allow myself to cry over things that happened way in the past when they hurt me.
🌸 Break into tears around people without wishing I could undo it.
🌸 Reach out to strangers with a huge probability of rejection.
🌸 Ask more questions that allow people to share more of themselves, and be okay with not always having answers myself.
I did list some new skills I’ve acquired over the year, yet writing this made me realize nothing’s more precious than the changes I’ve witnessed in my heart & the shifts in my mindset. I always try to invest in myself, but somehow the pace of life makes me rush into things without always being ready for them. Sometimes I think the stillness only makes me fall behind, when really, even the bowstring needs to be slowly pulled back before the arrow’s ready to land straight onto its target.
So try writing your own list today – even if it’s only a list of 3. You certainly deserve to be proud of yourself for growing through all what the world doesn’t yet see! (:
