When You Finish That Jigsaw Puzzle...
Hey hey,
HOW ARE YOU?
There are countless flavors being stirred around the emotional soup that is our current reality. I’m not sure what flavor you’re currently bringing to the party (stress, overwhelm, confusion, anxiety, loneliness, thrilled you can fully lean in to your introverted tendencies, or stifled you can’t throw a party, and maybe some fun sprinkled in there if you’ve discovered the ridiculous black hole of entertainment that is TikTok). You're likely feeling lots of different things all the time.
We’re on a rollercoaster of emotions with more twists and turns than binging the whole season of Tiger King in one weekend.
Whether you’re feeling extremely busy and chaotic with kids, work, and everything in between, or you’ve got more time and feelings on your hands than you know what to do with, the world is experiencing an awkward pregnant pause that collectively has us less occupied with external distractions.
This stillness is an opportunity to peek inside.
Grab your pen and paper or dust off that ole typewriter.
Set a timer for 9 minutes and let yourself stream-of-consciousness style write whatever comes up for you based on this prompt:
Future Biography:
Imagine you're still you, but one year from today.
What does your life look like? How are you spending your day?
Where do you live?
What are you working on or creating or who are you spending time with?
Most important, how do you FEEL?
Use the present tense to write about your life one year from now, as if it were today. If you don’t know where to start, start with waking up in the morning… what’s your routine, who is around you, where are you? If you feel stuck, get into all 5 senses. Explore.
Rules for the rule followers and something to rebel against for the rule breakers:
Don’t stop writing until the 9 min timer goes off (even if you have to start by writing “I’m not really sure what to be writing right now...”) Just write.
If the timer goes off and you want to keep writing, go for it.
Don’t judge or edit what you’re writing as you write, just let it flow.
If one year doesn’t feel right for you, go with 6 months, or 3 years… whatever works.
When you finish this exercise, step away, then later in the day come back, read what you wrote. Pull out any themes, any feelings. What feels good about this to you?
If it feels a little scary or unrealistic, you’re on the right track, my friend. If it feels too safe or doesn’t spark some intrigue, think about doing it again and seeing if you can go bolder, truly digging in to what you want your life to look like.
Now write down the answer to this question: what is one thing you can do or change in your life this week to move one step closer to this vision?
Maybe it’s an outward action (research, having a conversation with someone, opening a side bank account, etc), but it could also be an internal action (determine what pattern you’ve been entertaining for too long that keeps you from believing you can do / have / be this or that; recognizing that you typically put others before yourself and what toll that’s taking, or whatever the case might be).
Clearly this isn't the time to open your dream coffee-shop-meets-endangered-parrot-rescue retail space. But getting your thoughts and ideas off the hamster wheel of your mind and on to paper is going to allow you to get to know yourself and your ideas a little better, and create space for new or refined thoughts to emerge. Just play with it. See what comes up.
Writing is the most direct way we can take the jumbled and perhaps cycling thoughts from the abstract world between our two ears into reality. The process alone provides clarity and prompts more questions and deeper inquiry… it's like your own personal scavenger hunt and you’ll only find out what’s at the end by playing the game.
While we may not go back to “normal”, the distractions of the world will ramp up again. This prime time for personal contemplation may fade away as quickly as it came, so what do you commit to this week in honor of your future self?
Share this post with anyone you think could use it… the more of us looking inward to come out the other side more aligned with who we are, the better our future reality will be. #facts.
And if I can help in any way, let me know.
Cheers!
Elizabeth