Stay Whole: showing up differently + SIS Session 8 Recap
Updated: May 8, 2019
I originally planned to walk into this fall season shedding some of my commitments. I was determined to not have a mental breakdown as I did in the first year of my (community development) degree. Year two, was going to be different. And so far it is different. But not because I shed some commitments. Rather, my perspective on where and how to pivot my attention changed. I had to think about managing (not juggling or balancing) my obligations and opportunities, in terms of nice to have/do and must have/do.
I didn't come up with this idea of self-management all on my own (s/o my mastermind team: God, my coach, my therapist). However, I do believe I was heading down this path when I started using the affirmation stay whole. At first it may seem like a privileged thing to say. After all, some people claim to be are "broken", we've all endured some form of trauma, and some folks have invisible 'disabilities'. But, what I really mean when I say stay whole is this: though we face trials and tribulations we were not designed to be broken. So, the work of living is knowing and managing: which parts of self need the most attention at a time; what you need to do to heal or grow that part of yourself; and tapping into available resources in order to do so.
And that's how I'm choosing to stay whole in this season and second school year. I am not shedding commitments, instead, I am managing my time and energy. This is how I am showing up differently (another affirmation to self).
I alluded to showing up differently at our recent SIS session, on Sunday September 16. We discussed self-preservation and preparing for a new season, and I posed the following questions to our group:
What does self-preservation mean to you?
As we go into the fall months how are you preparing to show up for yourself daily?
Are you familiar with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder); have you experienced it? If yes, what was that experience like?
Do you have a support system?
What do you feel like you need the most right now? How can you create that for yourself?
Feel free to use the above questions as journal prompts over the week.
Some of the gems and ideas exchanged were: learning that your time and energy is valuable and worthy of preserving; taking the time to converse with self to figure out what it is you need; taking time and space for self, when you need to; asking for help (something I'm working on daily); and understanding that you have space to be individual and interdependent.
We wrapped up the session with a lesson on pickling foods and we got to take home our own jars of pickled peppers courtesy of Mattachioni.
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What is next for EGO? Join me, November 16-18, 2018, for our first "Stay Whole" retreat at Bliss Haven Retreat Center: a weekend to level up an/or jump-start a sustainable self-care practice...in sisterhood. Click here for more details.
Ps - take advantage of 15% off of early bird ticket pricing (limited time offer) by sending me an email (contact@ebonygirlsobsession.ca) with a brief answer to one of the above journal questions.
As always, stay whole.
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