I am joining Honoré and friends again this month to share an update on my word.
Let’s start with my guiding quote, one that has served me well each and every day!
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen Hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. — Mary Anne Radmacher
Eight months in and I am *finally* starting to see intention in a very different way. A way that I might never even considered in “normal living” times. I have stopped fighting with my word. I am no longer wishing for a different word. I am no longer feeling like intention is beating me down but rather, it feels like I have made peace with my word, it is lifting me up, and I have opened myself to learn where I can go with it.
So how’d all that happen?
Well, for starters…the overwhelming lack of “normal living.” No normal living chaos or over-packed lists. The daily idea that more is so much better has really no space in Pandemic Times. And with it goes all the “more” things. More wardrobe. More shopping. More sewing. More knitting. More. More. More. More. and yes, even more more.
But in Pandemic Times, I have found that more has an entirely different meaning. As in…
Yes, absolutely more texts/phone calls/FaceTime with family, but my days have also been…More thoughtful. More creative. More realistic.
And included…More quiet. More reflection. More decluttering. And more less of so many things. And not missing any of them!
More intentional!
I think that is the biggest thing that struck me this month. All those things from lists, the feeling of never doing enough, the need to be more, to go more…are all entirely unnecessary to intentional daily living and they did not fill me in a meaningful way, they just made me feel busy. I am laughing at myself at all the things I signed up for so I could “do less” which, in reality, just meant more things on a list… yep, I have let them all go. And it has been so freeing!
Learning to let go of all the noise has been a learning process, but eight months in I feel like I am finally getting it!
You can see all of my Intentional Journey here.
I’m also finding that my days are more thoughtful with fewer lists. Letting go of that feeling of never doing enough is a tough one (oh, the busyness!) but good for you for living with intention and getting it!
I am still busy, but it is a selective busy – perhaps that is the best way to describe it. Rather than being busy to avoid thinking, to avoid doing the things I hate, to ignore the silence. Today, those things are the only constants… my thoughts, the things that were constantly being moved to a new list, and sitting with the silence. I have come to find beautiful intentional living (and still being busy!) in those things… it is so good.
I am so glad that you have made your peace with your word. I am convinced that we end up with the right word for ourselves in some way no matter what. None of us could have foreseen the world we’re living in now, but isn’t it amazing how a word we picked has become so useful in these very strange times? I agree that life now is more about a focus on the present, on what we do have, on being content (and even delighted) with less. I hope it’s a focus we can all carry forward for when we’re past the current crisis.
I am in awe of that fact, Sarah. I think it is not my word by chance. I agree, I truly hope that this is my new normal. It really feels so good!
Congratulations! There have been some blessings along the way during these trying times. Here’s to one more in 69 days!
Lots of blessings… especially the unexpected ones! (and boy, I am eagerly counting! HA)
Nice post Kat! Glad you have made peace with your word and are finding that less can be so much more!
Exactly! Thanks Vera!
What a powerful post, Kat! I kept being pulled back to your phrase ‘more realistic.’ What an astute sense of humanity…of how we are _intended_ to live…that all this LESS is more realistic. I wonder how we will approach post-pandemic times (which will not be the same as Before, we know…)–what I mean is, when greater freedom is given back to us, I wonder what we will all choose to take back up–and what we’ll leave behind. Maybe it won’t feel like a ‘choice’ at all. Maybe it will just be who we’ve become.
Oh, I really hope that that is true… that this “less” and more “realistic” life will be our new norm. I do not want to go back to making lists that are full of impossible things, being busy with things that do not fill me or others, and doing just to avoid being quiet and thinking!
This was beautiful. I’m so glad you’re feeling peace with your word now and it truly suits you. I read something somewhere (I’m sorry, there’s no chance that I can provide a reference for it) that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. It was something like: no one says you have to live a “normal” life. In fact, you’ll probably be a lot happier if you don’t!
I think a lot of us are getting a glimpse of how life could be without all of the busy-ness we’ve been focused on. And I just love it!
I’ve been doing more phone calls than ever, but it’s the only way to stay in touch! I think I’ve been enjoying nature more so now than ever even when it’s blisteringly hot. I still get disappointed when I get overwhelmed with the news and the negativity but each day is a new day!
I was just talking with some friends earlier this week (Zoom coffee . . . ), and we were discussing just that . . . how the pandemic has given us the space to ACTUALLY get us out of whatever our “normal life” used to look like, and how we now have the ability to really “clear out our closets.” We all agree that our lives will never look the same, and this fresh perspective has forced us to REALLY figure out what’s important to us in our lives. XO
What a thoughtful post. I agree this time has been good for reflection. Our society sets us up to try to be and do more and more and more. It sounds as if you have found less means more intention. Life is indeed a paradox.
I really loved this post. I am so glad to hear that you have had such a positive change in your life as the result of the pandemic and all that that has changed in our lives. Sometimes we have to have our lives changed in an abrupt way but factors that are out of our control to help us see a better way to live. I hope you continue to be happy in this new way of being.