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Viva la Resilient!

Resilience is my 2021 theme, building my resilience is my resolution and my solution.

I could also call it;

Developing My Compartmentalization Skills

Growing a Thicker Skin

Giving Less Sh!ts

Non-attachment

Staying Grounded…

I am an empath, which means developing this thicker skin, this shield of resilience, is both uncharacteristic and necessary for “surthrival“.

Take last week for example; it was Wednesday, the 6th day of the year. I am trying to get my shit together to teach more classes while watching the freaking insurrection unfold and feeling deep concern and sadness over my two loved ones who had gone to the ER over the last 72 hours.

I seriously considered canceling my afternoon of work and taking a “mental health day” but after a little internal heart to heart, I recognized that none of these things were happening to me.

These events were in my realm and did deserve my concern, my empathy, my attention, and my energy but they didn’t need to absorb all my psyche.

I love my work and given the events of the day, I felt I could be of service to others by providing a time and space for embodiment and physicality. I put on my proverbial resilient undies and taught my last two classes with a sense of humor and lightness.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the above examples are inherently removed from me. I wasn’t in the ER, I wasn’t in the capital. It’s ‘resilience lite’ if you will.

But then again, part of resilience is not getting hung up in the Struggle Battles (“my struggle is greater than your struggle…”).

I honor your struggle and will work within myself to be resilient and strong, from which place I can better serve you through your struggles and your resilience. I wish the same for you, namaste.

Viva la resilient! 😉

40 Before 40

Gah. The last 4 months of my 30’s…

crap.

I smile at the thought that some of you reading that will think “omg, you’re a baby still” and others will be all “you’re so old!”.

(Along those lines, I was told recently that a woman half my age couldn’t believe I was late 30’s. She meant it as a comment/complement that I looked ‘young for my age’ but all I could think was, ‘yep, I remember when late 30’s seemed long in the tooth.)

So with my next decade fast approaching, I am looking at my beautifully cliched

List of 40 Before 40 in 4 Months

1. Write 40 poems

2. Run 40 miles

3. Gift 40 things

4. Make a list of 40 important memories/moments from my 30s

In creating my list, I wanted it to be accomplishable and I wanted to cover: a creative/mental challenge, a physical challenge, a community outreach task, and a reflection task.

(FYI, the Run 40 Miles is literally 40 miles total, not consecutively. I have very little desire to run lately but I do want, for many reasons, to get back into the habit of including it weekly into my routine.)

I’ve already started on Number 1, 10 poems down, 30 to go. I’ll leave you with this one.

I preferred when it was next year

(if we’re going on preference,

Many “next years” worked for me…)

I preferred when it was your turn

“That’s cool, I’ll pass on this opportunity, you go ahead, I’ll stick with 30s”

40 feels raw. And wrinkly. And Gray.

I know I will look back, shaking my well worn head, and coo;

“oh Faithala, how adorable you were as a youngster of 40, thinking that was wrinkly, achy, gray.”

And yet. It’s all mine for this moment, all I know, the minutiae of now.

P.S. I would love to be welcomed into the 40s club with any words of wisdom, advice, encouragement from those who know 🙂