I'm sitting down to reflect on my year and, I have to admit something to you, dear reader. In 2020, a year when we faced a deadly pandemic, murdering police and calls for social justice, an atypical election cycle with attacks on our democracy, and business-not-as-usual, I, a self-proclaimed over-achiever, took on too much. In summary, last year I committed and completed the following: writing a daily poem and posting it here, my first year of classes towards my MBA, practicing and teaching yoga (in-person at first, online you-know-when), being an engaged contributor at my full-time day job, meeting my consulting clients' needs, and being a loving spouse who shares the workload. Here's my caveat: even knowing it was a tough year, and hindsight being 20/20 and all, I still don't think I would go back and take anything off my plate. Wild. Right? So, with that personal clarity, I wanted to share with you the top insights I gained from taking on too much in 2020.
Image credit: Franz Bachinger on pixabay • I control what occupies my mind Despite the overwhelming amount of options my attention span is inundated with, in the end, I get to decide what information, entertainment, distraction, etc., consumes my mind. If you've been following me for a while, you probably saw that I paused my own reading of books for leisure for the first half of 2020. My intent was to pause for the entire year and over summer break, my will weakened and after that, I reasoned with myself that I could balance the urge to read with the rest of my commitments, which I did - sort of. I also stopped thinking as much though. I let the books become what I wanted them to be, a distraction, and it was fine because it was what I needed. At the same time, I haven't read any leisure books so far in 2021 and already I see my thought patterns changing. I also notice a correlation between novel reading and social media. When one goes up, the other goes down. I'm most heartened by my awareness. Because I am aware of what wants to pull my attention and what happens when I follow those different paths, I can better decide how I want my mind occupied. • Having purposeful downtime is not wasteful. I could have called this one 4b because it's definitely related. Since I control how my mind is occupied, I'm also in charge of whether I'm being "recharged" or just "draining the battery". If I choose downtime that makes me go braindead or forget that there is life "out there", then I'm not actually refueling. Choosing downtime that helped me feel refreshed and energized, such as a walk and a phone call, or making art, made a big difference on whether I had the energy and enthusiasm for school after work. Sitting down and reading a book made me want to stay sitting and stay reading. The new year gave me a good chance to "reset" and I'm finding my way forward on this one again. • It's humane to be human Being human must come first or I can't be anything. When I pay attention to my physiological needs and responses I am better able to concentrate on the tasks I decide to get done. This insight was taught at the school of hard knocks of 40 hour work-from-home workweek followed by evening school work. I could no longer rely on my walk to and from the bus station to stretch my legs. I could not count on having every weeknight for hikes or biking. I needed to be intentional in how I moved, sat, and slept. Yoga was a big help and when I practice more than 3 times a week, I can get away with more inactivity during the work day. The fewer the yoga sessions though, I better be moving on my 15s and lunch! Setting a routine helped and getting outside. I feel so much more human when I can feel the wind on my face at least once a day. Thank you, dear reader, for sticking with me this long on my 2020 reflection, for tolerating my mildly obnoxious humble-brag as I worked through those insights. I hope they help you and me in navigating what is coming our way for 2021.
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I believe perspective creates reality and though we may not have turned the corner on good things outweighing the bad, there is a lot of good inside of me, you, everywhere that can fill us up. My wish for us in 2021 is that we carry with us the surprising gratitude, the moments we realized our treasures, that we keep that hard-earned perspective and keep dreaming. Happy New Year! Love - Amy Kay Image credit: Pexels on Pixabay
Almost. I did some reflecting on my 2020 intention setting poem. Remember that one? It was "I Will Be A Corpse Whale". You can read it here. I wrote it's second response poem tonight. Image credit: Photograph on pixabay
I'm holding a paradox in my heart on this one. I do, sincerely wish for peace and joy and comfort to you this holiday season, and, I believe we could be doing a better job. My poem today carries a bit of my sadness from some things I heard in the news report today.
Wow! If you are near the twin cities, Sever's Festival of Lights in Shakopee, Minnesota is fantastic.
Here are three poems for the last three days. I've been rejuvenating, sleeping in, painting my house, and working on a pre-requisite for my MBA program. It's a blizzard in Minnesota right now and my house is cozy and perfect. It makes me feel very thankful for what I have. The solstice was on Monday and also made me feel thankful. The days will just keep getting brighter from here. "Solstice" is an ekphrastic poem in Shadorma form inspired by this image by David Sockrider. "Descendant" is an ekphrastic poem inspired by this image by Jacob Sutton. Image credit: Jill Wellington on Pixabay
Check out my inspiration for this ekphrastic poem here: https://www.artistaday.com/?p=143815. Arielle Pytka is the artist. I've written quite a few poems about the concept of clowns and this might be my favorite. Thanks again to Rattle for inspiration on ekphrasitc poems.
Shout out to Rattle for their monthly ekphrastic poetry challenge that inspired this one. Shout out to Dominique Dève whom they chose as the featured artist to inspire us in December. art credit: Dominque Dève
A collum lune and a shadorma. I'm in the holiday spirit. Tonight I addressed all of my holiday cards while watching two holiday movies back to back. So you get two holiday poems, back to back.
It was finals week and I had a bear of a schedule to wrestle. The celebration today was sleeping in, practicing yoga, talking with family members, buying holiday gifts, and posting these poems. Image credit: Mammiya on Pixabay
I'm a lucky human and have fallen in with many other humans who make me feel complete and content and enough. This poem is for one of those sparkling stars of my life-time. Agape <3. Image credit: Karen Henseler on pixabay
One of the best and worst things. The best because it's a challenge to understand and explore the paradox you find, the worst because it's hard to make peace between the two truths.
Gotta' top myself off sometimes. Metaphorically I do this (self-care) through baths, making other types of art, deep conversations, laughter, and being in nature.
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AuthorCreative enthusiast, gregarious naturalist, opinionated activist, RYT 200. Amy Kay Czechowicz completed a poetry challenge for 2018 by posting an original poem daily to this blog and she's doing it again in 2020! You can read those and more by clicking and exploring below! Search Poems
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