Encouraging Field Notes #5

We have a couch! Let’s start there. The journey to feeling settled in our new home has been more tumultuous for me than when we moved from NYC to Portland. There was something about Portland that freed me and something about moving back east that sacked me with more questions than answers.

“Wherever you go, there you are,” this is what my therapist tells me regularly and what I’ve been telling myself.

Being back east brings up a lot of old narratives for me. I tell myself I can’t do things simply because I used to not do them when I grew up and lived here. There’s something witchy about placing yourself in old settings that automatically takes you back to who you were back then.

This week’s encouraging words are about reminding you that you’re different. You’re not the same person you were months ago, years ago, and maybe even hours ago. It’s just hard to remember when everything around us may look exactly the same.

This week, no matter where your mind’s at, I want you to take some time and celebrate all the ways you’re different. Jot down how you are able to fill gaps for yourself now that you wish would have been filled in your childhood. Or how you’re fortunate enough to pay it forward in some way that means something to you.

For instance, my apartment complex is collecting donated backpacks with school supplies for kids in our local community. This weekend, I’m going to spend Sunday at Target filling a backpack up. When I was smaller, getting school supplies was always a stressful time for the adults in my life because of how expensive uniforms, supplies, and the start of the year can be. I feel blessed to be able to give a kid and a family a bit of a reprieve.

That’s one way I’m different now and tending to my inner child. I’d love to hear some of yours.