I have had a version of the same question come up in a few places over the past few days, and I wanted to bring it here.
How do I be more playful around money?
OR
How do I be more mindful around showing up for….?
FULL.
That’s what I want to talk about: being full.
We have been taught and trained and shown that we need to be THERE really quickly. We start something and if we aren’t ‘good’ at it, or if we don’t show some skill at it, or if it isn’t something we could turn into a hustle or at the very least be worthy of instagram, then it doesn’t look like the picture of it that we have in our heads.
Often that’s when we stop.
People tell me that they stop writing or stop doing what they have committed to because they get ‘bored’ of the thing and want to move on to the next thing, but is it that we are bored (maybe in some cases, yes), or is it that how we are doing it doesn’t look like we want it to?
Are we bored of the thing or of not being good at it quickly enough?
What if we started to embrace being bad at something?
What if we let ourselves dip toes in before we expected to swim?
What if instead of expecting ourselves to be able to be playFULL or mindFULL, or anythingFULL, we let ourselves start with a teaspoon?
In the case of being playFULL around money, I asked the person to think about how she could offer a tiny bit of play into the mix: Maybe try having a teaspoon of play today. What feels a teeny tiny bit playful around money? Can you just talk to it with a bit of silliness? Can you look at money as a cartoon creature and draw a silly hat on it? Think of joy and play around money as being something you sneak up on instead of something you have to Get Right.
When we season food, we don’t start with a full cup. We start with a sprinkle and work our way up; tasting and testing and wondering as we go.
Embrace being a beginner. Let yourself spend time learning.
I still don't like working out but it's because I hate still not being as strong as I'd like to be. But I am not going to stop this time. This time I am allowing myself to be a quarter cup there.
Where are you stopping because you aren’t good yet? Where are you trying to be full before you have been a beginner?
I encourage you to squash the quit if you aren't good at it bug. It's simply not the truth of our wonderful, weird, unpredictable human experience.
All or nothing makes no sense in a world that mostly made up of transformation and change.
What happens when you let yourself be not as good as you expect yourself to be and show up anyway?
I invite you to try adding a tsp of joy to something you want to heal today, or seeing where you are as simply a 1/4 of the way along the journey.
What happens when you release the need to already be full?
With much love,
What happens is I feel my shoulders drop, and I sigh with relief <3. It also feels really exciting to know that there is so much more to discover, and wonder about after. If I've come this far 1/4 of the way there, imagine the suprises that are waiting for me in the 3/4 of the path that's left! Thank you for this post, magically right on time as usual.
Ah. I agree. It’s like a breath of fresh air. To be gentler and kinder. I am playing with this more in my life because the all or nothing just brings tension and overwhelm. Even if I don’t have an hour to devote to something, I can show up for 15 minutes. Thanks for the reminder as I sit on my tush and read this. I was a bit stuck but I’m heading out to my paints and journal. 😊