January 7, Day 7 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. After announcing yesterday that I will finish the Positivity Challenge, I have stepped out of it. Why? It’s not that I don’t think I can still benefit from it. It’s because I have a finite amount of time and energy. It’s a priority choice. Since I am not a terribly negative person, I want to direct my time and energy towards more urgent areas of attention. I have a keener and more discerning eye now. That is one thing I have learned about myself during this pandemic. I have/had a habit of spending time on things that I already know how to do or am good at. Time is precious. I don’t want to waste any of it. I want to utilize it in the best way to serve myself.
I haven’t always have seldom serve my own best interests. It’s not that I don’t want to. I haven’t realized before that I tend to gravitate outwards, towards others’ interests and well-beings rather than my own. For what purpose I do not know. Perhaps it’s because I’ve learned or have been taught it’s better to think of others first. It’s being unselfish and giving. It’s being kind and generous. I haven’t thought about turning it around for myself till now. It’s a gift from our present pandemic circumstances. It’s given me stillness and silence to waken and see with different eyes. It’s given me time and space to breathe in a new vision of how to be. I agree with Caroline Myss that we are living in a remarkable time. It’s up to me how I want to evolve, transform and transcend.
I am having a good winter – of skiing, cooking, reading, writing, musing… – despite the pandemic, the omicron, the cold, the news, whatever. I am open to see and hear what is going on around me and the world. I try not to be overwhelmed by the avalanche of good news, bad news and fake news. I have chosen FOCUS as my word for the year. I am practicing on focusing on what is good, true and what I can do to serve myself, my family, friends and community. Life isn’t perfect. There are some not so good moments. There are inconveniences and adjustments. It might mean taking more time and using more energy to make changes and adjustments.
I hope I can stay focused and not to fall back into my well worn habitual ruts. I like to default into the familiar. I need reminders and a warning system. Feelings of fatigue, frustration, grouchiness, etc. could be a sign for me to take a moment to rethink, step out of the loop and take another look at the whole picture. Then assess, analyze and implement change.
The end. Good night.
onethousandandtwo 
Sounds good, Lily! Very “positive,” in fact, so you’re right, you’ve alright got that one. I’m glad you’re having such a great winter!
Thank you, Jeanine.
Oh my goodness, Lily – I’m so proud of you. Do you know how hard it is to say no to things that don’t suit you anymore? And practicing self-care doesn’t mean you can’t be there for others. It means you are prioritizing how to put your best self out there. Love it!
Thank you so much, Elisa. I have recently re-discovered so many audio books on self-care on my phone.
That’s a fantastic snow picture, I love it!
Good for you to FOCUS! I tend to spend too much time on things that are “good” in order to make them even better as well.
Focus is a great word for 2022! Mine is Presence-to remember to tune into my multi-dimensional Self!
Focus is kind of my word of the year too.. though I did not really give it much thought.. focusing on my strengths is what I hope to continue to do .. and not worry overly much about the mistakes..