I didn’t realise just how burned out I was when I moved to Wiltshire in February, and so my journey of recovery has not been a quick one, nor is it anywhere near complete.
I’ve still got quite a way to go, but I do often wonder if I’ll ever get there, or what “there” even looks like anyway.
There’s a large part of me that believes this will always be the journey that I’m on – constantly striving to feel better, do better, be better – because walking this rocky path is the very thing that drives me to seek out more supportive ways of living, more joyous ways of doing, and more fulfilling ways of being.
And when I find these ways I can then share them with others, and it is this value that I can give which gives me purpose.
I think we all have to give up the notion (myself included) that we’ll eventually get to this ‘place’ where life will be blissful, everything will just work, and we’ll live happily ever after; because if we ever got to that place we’d lack the motivation and drive to do very much which would result in us feeling extremely unfulfilled and dissatisfied.
Life, as Plato said, is about the pursuit of meaning.
Pursuing purpose and meaning is the intrinsic motivation of all human beings, it’s our lifeline, it’s what keeps us going day in and day out.
But the only meaning anything can ever have is the meaning that we personally assign to it.
And so the important question to ask ourselves is:
“What am I assigning meaning to? And why is it important to me?”
Today we are more connected than ever before which means that if we don’t intentionally carve out some alone time for ourselves to process our thoughts and regulate our feelings, then our purpose, and the meaning we assign to things, can easily be swayed by others.
And this is what sends many people down paths that they don’t actually want to go down.
This is actually one of the reasons I moved away from London this year; a digital detox and long walks in the suburbs just weren’t cutting it for me anymore.
I needed more space and I needed calm.
I needed fewer cues and triggers for my thoughts, particularly as my mind had become more and more fragile with the pressure of keeping business afloat during, and after, the pandemic.
Space and time are the most beneficial things we can give ourselves, particularly as these become increasingly harder to find in this busy, buzzy, world that we live in.
Space relaxes and calms us so that we are in a better position to soothe, ground, and recalibrate.
And giving ourselves time, and practicing patience, is one of the greatest acts of self-care we can do right now to combat the increasingly fast pace world that we currently live in.
Through giving ourselves space and time we are able to make more sense of ourselves, of the world, and better assign meaning to it all and purpose to our lives.
So I ask you;
how can you create more space for yourself right now?
How can you change your environment?
How can you redesign your routine?
What things, people, activities, and habits can you let go of?
These changes don’t have to be permanent, it’s just for now to free up some space and time for you to reconnect with what you truly value, and regain clarity over your purpose.
