Working Towards Our Purpose

Welcome back to working towards our purpose

today. I have episode 75 for you, and we're going to talk about

slowing down. And before we get into that, we're going to

take a moment to check in with ourselves and see where we're at

today, see how we're feeling, check in with our bodies.

For me, I'm feeling good,

and I know that's the most overused word to

respond to how you're doing, but I think I actually mean it today,

and I'm gonna try to get better at not just defaulting to that.

But, yeah, I'm feeling good today. I did some

difficult things yesterday for me, and

they sort of brought up

a lot of, like, critical feelings, a lot of, like, not good enough feelings,

but I was able to sort of push through it and

finish the task. All right, so I was. I was

having my friend record my vocals, which I've never had done before,

and it was extremely difficult for me. Um,

but he was very kind and being patient with me and.

And, you know, walking through it and

slowly sort of notice progress and like,

yeah, it was helpful. Like, it was. I've always

just recorded stuff by myself, music wise, so

it's. It's like, good. It feels good to involve other people and

to get feedback and to, like, see where you can do better and.

But that being said, like, just actually singing in front of somebody over and over

again is. Was really hard. Um, but,

you know, now today I'm feeling grateful for it and

feeling like I did something that was difficult and I got through it

and, like, I never sort of thought that I would be at

that point. And I know it's not like that big of a deal, but for

me, for me it is because, like, I never, like, saying in front of people,

never used my voice like that

in front of other people. I always did it. Like, I always felt like I

had to hide it. Um, so. So yesterday I didn't, and I feel

grateful for that, but it was hard. But today I'm

feeling, like, good because I did that thing that was hard. Um,

so long, long answer, but I thought I'd. I'd share that feeling.

Um. Cause, yeah, I am feeling grateful for it. So. So,

yeah, all that being said, hopefully. Hopefully you're doing or hopefully you got

a chance to check in with yourself today and see where you're at. Um,

but let's get into today's episode. Uh, it's. It's about slowing down.

And I think I. I wanted to talk about

slowing down because it's. It's it's like the season

that we're in. Like, you know, the clocks have been turned back. I don't.

I don't really know how long ago we did that. Um, but definitely

noticing the shorter days. Um, definitely

feeling like I'm, you know, sleeping in a little bit more than I normally do.

It's getting dark so early. Um, and

a lot of times that could be something, like, you can complain about, and I've

done that, too. Um, but I think today I

want to talk about, like, noticing the shortness of the

seasons and, like, moving with it instead of, like,

in spite of. Or moving with it instead of, like, against it.

So. So, yeah, days are getting shorter. There's holidays like

this. This time of year just seems to, like, have a different

pace and a different timing, like,

because there's, like, holidays and, like, things, like, obligatory

things that you have to do. I feel like the month goes, like, December always

just flies by, and like, before,

you know, it's like new Year. And for me, like, you know, we just did

an episode on, like, feeling like you're running out of time. And

usually, like, that happens for me at this time of year, like, I'm always thinking,

like, oh, no, I have all these things that I want to finish before the

end of the year, but I don't have enough time for them.

So I was feeling that. And then I was reminded of, like, slowing

down, and the seasons, like I

said, change, and they're. They're meant for different things. And I think,

like, when I was doing work in farmers markets, I met

farmers, and I, you know, talked to a lot of

farmers and noticed that, like, farmers around this time of

year slow down, and there's, you know, it's cold out,

there's less things to put in the ground. There's less work to be doing.

You prepare for the winter. And it's sort of

like when I first sort of learned that,

like, that's how they are living their lives. To me,

coming from, like, somebody who was in corporate for a long time,

that was, like, so new to me. And I was like, whoa, that makes so

much sense to slow down this time of year because,

like, you know, days are shorter. You're feeling, like, maybe

lower energies. It makes sense to, like, kind

of go a little bit more easy than you do during the summertime. And. And

I don't know, I just really liked that idea of, like, following the

seasons and not being expected to have, like,

the same output that you do in the summer months when you have more

energy and there's longer days and, you know, more things going

on. So I really liked the idea of, like, sort of

slowing down in the winter. And

recently I've been, like I said, sort of stressing myself out about, like,

getting all these things done before the end of the year. And

then I sort of remembered this slowing down, and I was like, oh, yeah, I

need to slow down this time of year. I can't. I can't expect the

same output that I did in previous

months. And that's okay. Like, that's so hard to accept for me

because I'm always, like, trying to, like, you know, do more. And

I think, you know, we all are. Maybe we can all resonate with that, of

trying to have, like, lots of output. It's the culture that we're. We

live in. But to think about, like, slowing down

and. And not having to do everything.

So. So, yeah, I was. I was getting to, you

know, December, and. And I had these two projects that I wanted to

finish before the end of the year, and one of them I've done a lot

of work on, and I'm in the editing phase, and, like, I'm getting close

to being done with it, and I feel good about it. And the other thing

I hadn't started yet is. And I was,

like, putting more and more pressure on myself to, like, do this second

project. And I hadn't even really started it yet. It was just kind of in

my head. And then I, like,

sort of realized that my, like, reality and expectations weren't aligning. And I was

like, realistically, you're not going to be able to finish this thing the way

that you want to have it finished. So why don't you just

extend the deadline? Like, you don't have to get it done for the 31st. You

can get it done in January, you can get it done in February. It doesn't

matter. Um, so then I removed that

expectation for that project, and I was like, okay, I'm not finishing this project before

the end of the year. And that made me feel a lot better. It made

me feel like I wasn't running out of time. It made me feel like I

could accomplish the things that I wanted to in the month of December and then

also gradually slow down and take a little bit of time off at the end

of the month, like I planned on doing. So

that was really helpful to, like, remove that project from me. And then I think

the funniest thing was that as soon as I decided that I

actually worked on the project and, like, got Some planning of it done.

Um, so it was like this thing that was hindering me from

getting it done cuz I was so afraid that I wasn't gonna finish it for

the end of the year. So once I was able to.

Once I was able to like let go of

that pressure and be like, okay, there's no deadline on this now. It could be

January. Then I was able to like make progress on it and

like feel like I was working on it in a way that felt

like, good. Like I, I don't know, like I came up with some

stuff that I like, I hadn't thought about and had a really good like brainstorming

session with myself. So. So yeah, just sort

of, you know, realizing that like my reality wasn't matching my expectation.

So. So yeah, I sort of just want this episode to be

a reminder to slow down and like almost

a. What's the word?

An acceptance. No,

Just like allowing yourself, whatever that word is, Allow yourself to do

something. Permission. There you go. The permission to slow down

this time of year. And I say this, you know, outwardly, but I'm also saying

it to myself because I'm, I'm trying to remember it myself that it's okay to

slow down. And you know, oftentimes when you do slow down,

you can, you can even get more done. You can have like higher

moments of, of clarity and, and yeah, I don't know.

You don't, we don't need to work as much. And

just thinking about that and, and being gentle with yourself, like being more

gentle with yourself this time of year, you know, holidays come up, it brings lots

of other things and emotions and people and

conflicts and that sort of thing up. So reminding

yourself to be gentle with yourself this time of year, slowing down

and working a little bit differently is okay. And

I think natural to do that and

to sort of flow with the seasons and,

and yeah, listening to your body too. Like sometimes there's been a few times where

like my body's just been tired and like I'll go to bed earlier than I

normally do and to try to just listen to like what

I need. And

that's, that's been helpful.

So. So yeah, I think, I think that's kind of

all I wanted to say on this topic. I won't keep droning on about it,

but just, just a reminder to slow down and,

and you know, enjoy the, the rest of the year. And,

and I, I said earlier that I, I wanted to take two years or no,

two weeks off at the end of this month because I think it's also

helpful to like, think about what you did and give yourself time to

look back on the year and think about, like, how you want

to move forward. So I think that that's helpful too. And we'll have some more

episodes on the like, end of year

type stuff. I sort of planned out the rest of my

episodes for this year, which I don't normally do, but I have some

like, topics that I want to hit before the end of the year and then

I'm going to stop. If all goes well, you know, this, I guess, subject to

change. But if all goes well, the next five episodes, or

I guess it's four episodes now. Yeah. Wow. The next four

episodes are planned out and gonna bring me to episode 80

and then I'm gonna take a break at episode 80 and then come back in

the new year. But these next couple episodes are gonna all

kind of be talking about like end of year

type stuff and. And yeah, excited about them,

but. But more to come. So. So

yeah. Thank you for. For listening. I appreciate.

And I will see you on another episode real soon. Thank you.