Promises of May

I don't know about you, but when May comes, I start to feel FINALLY like I am shedding my winter self and donning my spring self for real. Yes, spring has already arrived and the evidence of it is all around here in the Pacific Northwest but I think we start to get sunnier days and the days are noticeably longer. I spent April writing poetry like I usually do for National Poetry Month. I am part of a group on Facebook that gets a prompt each day and everyone writes a poem to the prompt. It is fun to read others' poetry and hear what resonates with others about mine. More on this in another post.

Four days ago I received the SPARK - that one Liz Gilbert talks about in her book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. It is a nudge that seems to come out of nowhere and all of a sudden that is all you can think about, it sparks interest and joy, it makes you want to cancel all of your plans and do this thing above all else. I think I have my book. More on that later.

I am going to embrace Meatless May - and going Vegan for that time. Starting May 8th and going until May 26th I plan to eat Vegan. Have I done this before? I do eat Vegan on occasion. I have been to some amazing restaurants in Olympia, Spokane, Salt Lake City, and Cincinnati that had amazing Vegan food. I have a couple others on my wish list here in Olympia and one in Tacoma. I often do food experiments to see how I feel. This will be like that. Just a little check in to see how I am feeling.

I started a meditation challenge with a friend of mine around Stress through the Insight Timer. May 1-15 I will be dedicating my first 15 minutes of the day to this challenge. I have dabbled in meditation off and on for a few years with some success. I am a person who gets the benefits of mediation but lacks the discipline to do it daily with any consistency. I am hoping to change that. I need it more than ever.

I am reviewing Atomic Habits by James Clear. I have been in classes, workshops, read books, and tried to plan, schedule, set goals, intentions, etc to change things about myself but very little sticks. I am trying to undo the all or nothing mindset that seems to overtake my mind when it comes to changing anything about myself. I love change, I am okay with change, but often I get discouraged too quickly. I forget about the practice, the way to change things is small. I always want the grand change, the big movement. I forget that small incremental change is powerful. And so, I review and remind myself that 15% is better than 0%.

Does that seem like a lot? I am also notoriously one to say yes to things - because I want to do everything and I cannot seem to understand my own capacity for things. I also know that some of this is just one short bit of the day.

I'm still working on decluttering and organizing my house. I volunteer when I can at my local Food Bank. I get out and walk a couple of times a week. I am going to Physical Therapy to help get my right leg back into some sort of shape - and it turns out it is also my low back. I write on a semi regular basis. I am cleaning our house and enjoying time with friends, my husband, and pets. I am considering what I will do next. I look forward to travel.

All of these things seem to build in May - the hope for the future, the assessment of current projects, the commitments, the research, the writing, everything coming forward as Spring is really and truly here. I look back on other times when I have hit May - and this is no different than anything I have done for quite some time. I look back at what I thought I would be doing and reassess. I start to focus on what I want going forward and I jump in the deep end hoping I will swim.

I know this about myself and yet, I will continue to do it. I love the challenge of trying to be realistic about what I can do while also wanting to do ALL OF THE THINGS.

How are you doing this May 1?