What do you want...?
The ellipses in the above question aren’t stylistic. They are intended to allow you to fill in the rest. What do you want…now? What do you want…to do? What do you want…to get over? What do you want…in life? Oooh…such fun!
Yesterday was Mother’s Day (which you would know if you were near any given city park…filled with men and their children while Moms everywhere slept in). I was feted royally and had a fabulous day. For the bottom-lined version of this posting, go straight to paragraph 7. For the minutiae of my lovely day, read on.
It was a quieter day than most of our weekend days, by design. We had few plans other than our annual tradition of visiting my mother’s commemorative tree down by the beach and planting cheerful and fragrant flowers for all to enjoy. We capped that off with a family brunch and parted ways with my Dad, his partner, and her son.
I was asked by my sister and husband what I “want to do” now. I demurred as I didn’t really know what I wanted to do (very unlike me). But the reason I wasn’t sure was simple. I knew I could do anything I wanted to…it was “MY” day. The possibilities were dizzyingly endless. Well, maybe not ENDLESS, but certainly plentiful. After some coaching from Greg and Christina on “what that could be” (based on what I always say I don’t get enough of), I decided on yoga and reading in the back garden. They concocted an elaborate plan to give me time to myself and I took full advantage of it…once I got over my self-imposed guilt and missing my lively household.
It was one of the nicest yoga practices I’d had in a while and I lost track of time in my new read: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Two points here. The first: sometimes we don’t know what we want. We may have too many options in front of us; too few options; or stubbornness about doing something different (in my case, this can manifest as martyrdom). Sometimes we need people around us to remind us who we are, what we’re worth, and what we’ve SAID we want.
The second: people who love you want you to be happy and for you to do what you want. So much so they’ll help you figure it out…willfully, cheerfully and with best intentions. And you’d do the same for them. Period.
Those two points encapsulate the fundamental premise and power behind the Board of Your Life program. Sometimes we know we need a change…but don’t know what that might be. By asking ourselves some hard questions, and bringing in people from our own lives that see and know us and want the best for us, we’re opening ourselves up to a myriad of possibilities. All good.
You at your happiest is the best gift to everyone else around you…a slight variation on “When Mama’s happy, everyone’s happy.”
You SHOULD do what you want. The trick is to figure out what that is.
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