When it comes to morning productivity or night productivity, I’ll choose the night each time. I’m a fake - fake morning person. Meaning, the only thing that is guaranteed to get me up and moving before 6 am is church or the adrenaline that comes with calling an Uber to the airport in the wee hours of the morning because it’s time for vacation.
Last week, I unexpectedly had to be out of my apartment much earlier than normal and because I was not going into the office, I chose to use the time to meditate. Half looking for coffee and half looking for WiFi, I settled down on the large stone stairs that make up the outdoor seating area near Brooklyn Academy of Music.
what does self care look like for you?
cultivation of curiosity, stewarding of health, honoring of quality time
Between deep breaths and centering thoughts, I couldn’t take my mind off of a mother and son seated behind me. From first glance, it looked like they too were enjoying the calm clarity of crisp air that comes before the sun takes its turn illuminating the realities that will make up your workday. When I turned around again, I saw that they weren’t actually seated at all, but engaging in quality time, alternating the role of the host into each other’s world. Mommy getting in her cardio while a son lovingly mimics her moves. Son instructing proper posture and poise to drive toy trucks. Both, giving me a peek into the cultivation of curiosity, the stewarding of her health and his, and the foundational love of quality time.
I saw a woman who may have been headed to work, headed to work from home, or headed to continue building her home, yet still intentional in wholly pouring into the life she created.
An intentionality that extends far past the care needed during pregnancy and birth and that will expand and last into the years of adulthood.
Last year I heard an incredible message on what to expect when you’re spiritually expecting. This year, I’m questioning if I’ve over-romanticized the “pregnancy” portion of the creative and/or spiritual process.
Now what I’m not here to do, is to tell you how your purpose pregnancy is going, but what I am saying is you may be further along than you think.
What if we stopped looking at the new job, the dream role, the next product line, or the next event, as the defining moment to get us in line with our purpose, and realized that we’ve already given birth to our purpose — in fact, we’re fine-tuning the balance between honoring our truest selves, our current responsibilities, and listening to the quiet whispers from God on what’s next.
We’re further along than we think.
We’re more connected than we acknowledge.
We’re able to carry a greater capacity than before.
Unpacking the perceived breakdown of how that woman’s day could be set up, encourages me to go harder on the projects that are waiting in the wings or further back in my purpose project pipeline because they are my babies. I’ve given life to many projects, works, and relationships, and I have the honor of raising them into maturity.
But even in that, I have to honor the space that I’m in now. While I am waiting for large strides and big changes, I can choose to look at this as being in limbo or as a moment to receive, recharge, and be still --- reminiscent of the clarity that I associate calm crisp air before the start of a workday.
How are you progressing in your purpose? What are you learning?