Mine: 62 brings wisdom that this is it! Now’s all we’ve got!
We were so close. Many of us optimists actually believed the country was on its way to herd immunity, almost back to “precedented” again. And then last month, this freaking Delta variant dawned. And now, we’re back in the COVID saddle again, riding out new threats, on and offshore.
As the summer winds down and we prepare for what in some ways may feel like a reversal of what we thought was going to be the new normal — of returning to work and school after a year and a half on hold — after the other new normal of…not…I’m standing firm in my commitment to write my own headlines, and find the joy in the moments we get to have, and I invite you to join me.
Amidst writing this note to you over the weekend, Chelsea (my daughter and business partner) sent me this, from actress Kristen Bell (one of her favorites) on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CS3VgqHrRaK/
I loved this, and it made me think of my mom (Grandy) and one of her top journaling prompts, “You in 6 words,” wherein you jot down as many 6-word, headline-like stories as you can…a sort of micro-journaling. An example she loved, “Still fits into high school earrings.”
That, with the older man in the story Kristen Bell shared, has me scanning my life for the headlines I choose —
“Woman takes 62 years to fully realize this is all we’ve got!”
“Mom has epic week with her two awesome kids”
“Founder builds product for others that transforms her own life”
Here’s the deal: most things in life are made up by someone, and at this pivotal moment in time, your mental health depends on you adding some stardust to yours.
Because the stories we tell ourselves…the things we internalize…determine our reality.
So let’s affect the things we can control that need to change, then pair the dark side of the big things we can’t control, with a lighter, brighter side of the things we can.
After a lousy, long awaited 60th birthday spent at my dying mother’s bedside in 2019, and my 61st all alone in a new city wracked by the pandemic, I’m gearing up for a birthday that I’m going to celebrate. Safely, but big. Because it’s time for my heart and my head to rendezvous. And so far in my ramp-up weeks, changing my mind has been much easier than I thought.
Only you can control your state of mind, and you get to decide where that takes you at 3 a.m. when your head wakes you up to worry about some new something over which you have zero control. Because you’re in charge.
As luck would have it, Chelsea is marrying the man of her dreams next weekend, in a pared down, already-postponed-twice wedding that is showing me that hope and love and joy and celebration does not have to be a thing of the past. We are taking every possible precaution necessary to keep our family and our friends safe, and we are going to celebrate this huge milestone for all of us who so desperately need to gather and rejoice.
Over this past month, with Chelsea and Peter’s wedding rapidly approaching, I have learned from all the wise women I have been spending time with on Campowerment.com, how important it is to get out of my head and into my heart, even when I want to stay under the covers. Because terrible news and beauty can exist at the same time, and it’s our job to crank up the volume up on the good stuff.
This coming year, I’m going for it (process already under way). and my wish is that you will, too.
Do it your way, however that looks or feels to you. Look for the teeny tiny things that make you smile (Campowerment expert Cyndie Spiegel calls them micro-joys)!
Write your own headlines. We’d love to hear them, HERE!