In a recent post, KT shared her thoughts about change. In fact, if you look closely, change and growth is a theme in many of the things KT writes. She embraces change as a part of life, welcomes it as a path to new challenges and achievements, even seeks and manufactures it to keep herself growing. It is a quality I admire (especially since I do not share it.)
In yet another of the 867 ways that the 2 Chicks are opposites (that we have discovered so far), change is something that makes me very nervous. I worry about it, try to avoid it, pretend it’s not there, and usually resist it with every bit of my being. What’s sad is that, even at age 44, I act as if change is avoidable – like I can do something to stop it. I’ve wasted a lot of precious energy trying to keep change at arm’s length. So what’s been happening lately is surprising.
Although I haven’t announced it widely, big changes have been happening in my family. There have been job shifts, school shifts, routine shifts, goal shifts. Some of these were invited, some were forced upon us by circumstance. We are all still trying to find our footing as things continue to change and develop.
By way of example, I changed my job (on purpose!) this year. This is HUGE for me, as someone who avoids change. But, I needed to make this happen for several reasons, so I set a goal, did the work, and one of the several positions I applied for panned out. (Not surprisingly, it was KT who helped me through the process of getting it done. She is truly a #goalgetter and generously shares her approach!) Although I still have the same job title, it is a completely different community and school dynamic. I am trying to keep up, but it is a lot to take in.
Then there are the “domino effect” differences. The biggest of these is trying to fit in my workouts after school. I can’t attend CrossFit classes at 5:30 am anymore, which has been an adjustment. I miss my morning gym friends and the stress relief that starting the day with a good sweat brings. But, I’m getting there at other times as often as I can and making it work. And there are all kinds of other changes that came from my job shift as well.
I’ve been watching the way the changes throughout my family have been playing out. Even on a good day, with good support, change can be taxing for some. As I encourage everyone to be patient and take care of themselves while taking each day as it comes, I try to remember to do all those things myself as well.
It can be hard, though. If I scroll through facebook or instagram, it seems like everyone is always happy, always on vacation, always upgrading their houses, always successful, always champions. I know my kids see this, too. It’s rare that people post the hard stuff, the mundane, the oil changes, doing dishes, folding laundry, managing illness, aches, and pains, doing paperwork, struggling with homework, waiting in line, dealing with boring commutes, enduring frustrating people and all the other the day-to-day junk that can take up most of our time. Of course, we all have those things, but we often keep them behind the scenes (myself included). We may share them with friends, but not always on a big platform. It’s easy to be sucked in to thinking we are the only ones with work or troubles or time we wish could be better spent.
We also rarely see all the work that goes in to transformation. Instead, we see the end result, the success, not the sweat, the sacrifice, the tears, the drills, the hours of practice, the falls, the U-turns, the frustration, the days when it didn’t seem like anything good was going to come of all the effort. When you just see the result, it always seems easier than it actually was.
As I was sitting on the back porch writing and thinking about this, trying to make some sense of it for today, a butterfly floated by, blissful as can be on the breeze. I thought about all the change that butterfly had been through in life. And so much of that change is done out of view, in the muck and mush and ugly, miraculous work of transformation.
We get no view, there is no applause for this process of change. The caterpillar goes into hiding, on some internal cue, all along doing the mysterious, innate work it was meant to do. When it comes time, it emerges, dries its wings, unfolds those beauties, and takes flight.
For me, Sunday is a day of errands and preparation. Shopping for the food, cleaning the house, packing the lunches, doing the workout, folding the laundry. Maybe not what many would see as an instagrammable day, but one that sets me up for a week with less stress so I can focus on pushing myself further on the path in my work while also supporting my family and friends in theirs.
It’s also a day of writing and thinking and reconnecting with my vision of my future, and the next steps it will take for me to get there. I’ve carved out that time, so I still take a personal step toward who I am becoming. No one else can make that time for me (another lesson from my friend KT!) I have to do it, even if it is just a couple of hours. Other things will go undone, and I’ve learned to be ok with that (but I haven’t always been that way!)
Unlike the butterfly, I’m giving you an inside glimpse into one messy Sunday afternoon moment of my transformation. It may not be pretty. There are groceries all over the counters, floors that need mopping, emails that need answering, kids that need encouraging. Today and every day, there are loose ends and mushy parts. There are red herrings and rabbit trails. There are things I will sharpen or learn to do better as I practice and continue to evolve.
Through all of it, I know I am changing. It may not be a straight path and it may not be quick, but I am inching forward overall.
And at the end of this path is my launch pad, where I’ll suddenly, inevitably, unfold these beauties, and take flight.
#2CHX #inspireothers #change #transformation #butterfly #goalgetter #Sunday #mealprep #Crossfit #embracechange
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