It’s March! The first two months of the year were interesting. January seemed to drag on, and then February passed in a flash. There’s been uncertainty and upheaval in our world, which I wrote about a bit in my last post, “Knowing & not knowing.”
Today, as we enter a new month, I’m returning to my very first post of the year, “Disruption,” to revisit my intentions for 2025. I wrote:
“We can be conditioned or taught by various sources - the dominant culture, authority figures or “experts” (some legitimate, others not), corporations, families, friends, the media, schools, social media, and other influences - that things are to be done a certain way. These influences flood our highly-connected and information-saturated world. It’s overwhelming. The key is awareness. The key is returning to ourselves and the values we hold dear, again and again. The key is remembering the agency we have in living life on our own terms.”
Also in that post, I mentioned that my oldest child and I are doing a half marathon in April. My training was sidetracked or slowed down for a variety of reasons - a vacation over the Christmas holiday, an injury at the end of December, and the winter weather to name a few.
However - I’ve pushed myself a bit more lately, and I’m back on track. Last Saturday, I made a short video after a triumphant six-mile run. The video was inspired by illustrator Rachal Duggan’s presentation at a Creative Mornings Milwaukee event. You can learn more about Rachal and her work on her website RADillustrates and from her talk Permission to Layer.
This is the short video I made, which I hope you’ll watch if you haven’t already:
To be clear - it’s not specifically about drawing or running or writing or any particular activity.
Doing the things is different for each person. Also, I don’t mean this strictly in the productivity or self improvement kind of way, although that may be a byproduct, depending on what your “things” are.
It’s about doing the things by living our values and aspirations.
It’s about doing the things that bring us joy.
It’s about doing the things that make us feel more alive and energized.
It’s about doing the things that make us feel more ourselves.
It’s about doing the things imperfectly.
It’s about feeling proud of ourselves for doing the things.
So, as we enter the third month of the year, I’m refocusing on doing the things. Some of the things I’m going to do are to continue training for the run in April and to put energy and time into activism, community, and creativity.
I hope you find ways to go about doing the things that matter to you!
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With care and gratitude,
Mary
Love your video! Great message.