I: Intention
Intentionality in a pandemic
Have you ever kicked off your year with a word? You know the drill - you choose a word which suggests what you’d like the theme of your year to be marked by.
In 2019, my word was ‘intentional’.
I also started 2019 about 5 months pregnant.
I didn’t think that one of these things would be a problem for the other but I’ve gotta say, the pregnancy and the ‘word’ often butted heads.
The thing is, they shouldn’t have. If I’d have been thinking about intention in the way I’ve taught for years and the way it’s integrated with the Time & Pace framework, there wouldn’t have been an issue, but as you well know, we’re often our very worst critic.
You see, long before I even taught it, I often thought that intentionality should be pointed in the direction of what your heart and mind is suggesting first. Now before you think to yourself ‘well, all my heart and mind ever tell me to do is sit on the sofa and watch Netflix’, I’m gonna stop you for a sec and ask that you don’t listen to what I don’t mean here.
If you are indeed someone who daily feels the pull to a box set and pjs, I want to ask you when the last time you felt excited by your ‘normal’ day to day was? The last time you woke up feeling excited about what you had laid in front of you to do?
Finish that off as a journal prompt when you get a chance: “The last time I woke up feeling genuinely excited about all I was going to be doing that day was _____.”
What came up for you?
I ask because if truth be told, we’re created to work. Now, your work may well look different to mine. Your work could look like a 9-5, night shifts, running a business, working in an office, running after little kids all day as your day job, and everything else in between. Whatever work looks like for you, I’m sure that:
You can remember a time you were energised and excited about it, whether that’s today or was 10 years ago.
You’d like to feel like that more often.
I was a High School teacher for 7 years, and although I had occasional days of excitement throughout my career, after the first couple of years, I couldn’t get enough ‘rest’ - even after a 6 week summer holiday, even after being super organised and knowing *exactly* what I should be doing that day/week, and even after a promotion and more responsibility being offered to me.
You see, as intentional as I decided to be about my day to day, I’d find that eventually, none of it would be as fulfilling as I’d hope because it wasn’t ‘me’ any longer. So the irritability I noticed at not being able to feel accomplished in my role was because I thought that I ‘should’ feel better than I was.
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again…
There is no should.
Should forces you into boxes you weren’t built for.
Should causes you to second guess your heart’s desires.
Should makes you question & compare way more than is necessary.
There is especially no should during a pandemic.
Not that you need reminding, I’m sure… But we have just spent the past year going through a global crisis, not to mention everything else which has happened in the world recently, too.
If there were ever a time to lean in and listen more to your now over your next, it’s today.
Deciding at the end of 2020 that 2021 was going to be ‘your year’, only to be met with another lockdown, or anything else which you might have experienced over the past 3 months doesn’t say anything about you or your intentions, but it is grounds for you to pause and reassess. Even if only for a moment in time.
If, during my late pregnancy and early motherhood, I’d recognised that where I needed to be intentional was with my son and with myself, then any other work I’d have done would have been a great bonus. Instead, the lack of posts, programmes and online presence nudged at me accusingly at the end of every day, trying to tell me where I hadn’t met the mark somehow.
If, once I’d realised that teaching was no longer the career for me, I’d have chosen to start looking elsewhere for work and would have remained in gratitude for my present trusting that it would serve a purpose for my future. I’d have recognised the reason for feelings of ‘flatness’ week after week despite my best efforts, were a nudge to move on to pastures new, and to be intentional there as opposed to a suggestion that I should force myself that little bit more as though that would change anything.
What if your intention during this weird and wonderful year started with your intuition?
And with that, let’s do some digging…
What is the MOST important area you need to be present in your life for right now? (E.g. health, family, work etc.)
Where in your life could you be taking a break to regroup and reflect at the moment, rather than pushing through?
How does pausing on this make you feel and why might that be?
If the thought of pausing on this aspect of your life completely is too overwhelming to comprehend at the moment, how can you take a small step back in some way?
(Once you’ve done number 2-4!) What came up?
There’s a LOT to say about intentionality and so stay tuned for our official launch by keeping up with these weekly Monday Nurture Notes and by following over on Instagram over on @officialtimeandpace.
If you’ve enjoyed today’s message, please spread the love. It MASSIVELY helps as we prepare to launch to the world. Just take a screenshot of your favourite part and add it to your IG stories tagging @officialtimeandpace.
Keep going. Keep growing.
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