I’ve been having to make a bunch of big life decisions lately, with Rhys getting bigger and things reopening and a post-pandemic world starting to come into focus.
So much of it is exciting, but it can also be a lot.
One of the most helpful exercises I’ve found is asking myself what I want my life to actually look like 6 months, maybe a year, down the road. Ever do something like that to make a big decision?
Here’s the weird catch...
If you find yourself saying stuff like “I want to read 50 books in a year!” “I want to write my own book!” “I want to finish three marathons a year and to use them to raise $3000 dollars to my favorite cause!” then you’ve fallen for the same trick I often fall for.
See, you didn’t exactly describe what you want your life to look like... you listed the things you want to get done. Meaning? You’re less likely to be satisfied until they’re checked off.
It’s easy to fall for this. An industrial, profit-driven world means we overvalue productivity and miss the joy of the process.
I eventually rewrote my description of what I wanted from life to list things like “starting Sundays a bit slower and bumping the music loud while getting ready for church,” or “waking up extra early on Thursdays to head to a coffee shop for a deeply focused creative writing session,” and “Friday pizza nights!”
At least for me it makes it all the more easier to start a Sunday or Thursday morning, or a Friday evening, really stoked about what makes that activity special. It’s not that I have to go to that freaking coffee shop and write something, it’s that I get to because it’s part of a life I chose.