The Stories We Tell Ourselves

July is here. I’ve watched July approach. Hesitantly. I planned everything happening in July, or, almost all of it. Lots of things are happening this month. And, it makes me anxious. There is little to no downtime. We will travel, meet people, attend events, and reunite with loved ones. I can’t look at the list and think, “Well, I actually don’t want to do that.” It’s all the things I wanted. And, it’s a lot.

July 1st rolled in and I wasn’t sure how I would do it all. Over and over again, the story I’ve told myself is it’s going to be really busy. I’m going to be drained. There is not enough time. We can’t add anything else. I’ve postponed meeting people for lunch until August because mentally I can’t handle the idea of adding more something else on the calendar. Again, it’s a lot.

Then recently, scrolling through LinkedIn, a message like this crossed my feed:

I don’t think I even stopped scrolling. But, my subconscious picked up on it. Later that day, I kept thinking of the phrase over and over. I tell my kids often, “Be careful what kind of story you tell yourself.” The story I was telling myself about July was that it will be stressful. There’s so much going on. I will be so tired. Exhaustion, pressure, ugh. July came and, well, guess how I’m feeling?

But, this idea that if I am busy, I need to slow down more, stuck with me. Earlier this week, I brought out a piece of paper. I wrote out what July could be.

An Amazing JulyA Meaningful JulyA Restorative July

Was that even possible? That the month I’d been waiting for/dreading could be a month of help and restoration?

I thought about what that would look like. What would it take to make July a month of restoration? I kept writing.

Get to bed earlierDo yoga before bed

I also pulled out the list of my current goals. Glancing at those, I realized that accomplishing a few would add to the feeling of restoration.

After starting the list, I noticed my frame of reference shifting. The other day, I realized that one thing that would help is to grocery shop by myself. I could listen to a podcast, or just be quiet and shop. But, shopping by myself would amount to some alone time, even in the meat aisle.

So, this month, that’s what I’m doing. I would love to write a deep assessment of my childhood but, that’s not what I have in me this month. This month, all I can offer is where I am today.

If I accomplish this, I will let you know how it goes. I’ll keep a log of how I transformed an event-filled month into a restorative one. I’ll share what helped and what didn’t.

But, no matter what you do this month, think about the stories you tell yourself. I’m not saying you need to be grateful. But, I am suggesting that we look at what’s possible. What seems impossible might be exactly what we need.

I love you.

May you make room for the very thing you need.

Till next time…

Written with Aurora Borealis in 4K UHD: "Northern Lights Relaxation" Alaska Real-Time Video 2 HOURS playing in the background