Winter Update
It is the eleventh week of winter and the only time of year in Southern California when it becomes necessary to check the weather forecast before making plans. I was reminded of this recently when I surprised my ten year old daughter with a girls’ day that included a beach walk during a windstorm.
As we drove into the empty parking lot above my favorite stretch of sand, I joked with her that it was our lucky day because “we got the whole place to ourselves!” She smirked and gave me a little side eye - her way of letting me know that my jokes are terrible, but she loves me anyway.
We never made it onto the sand. We got as far as the steps that lead to the beach, where we took a shivering selfie with the wind whipping through our hair, and then scurried back to the car as fast as we could, laughing hysterically the whole way.
Aside from Mom mishaps and the occasional attempt at spontaneity, I have spent most of winter nesting and hibernating, working on my first book and planting seeds for the second season of Mujeres. The more I live, the more I respect winter’s invitation to reflect, recenter, and recalibrate.
Action, my word for 2023, showed up just as winter was beginning and just as I was making a shift in my work life. The word is posted in places where I see it often - my writing desk, my planner, my phone. It is a compass, navigating me through the murkiness of change and finding my own way.
Action pulls me out of my head and into my body, where I have agency to move toward the projects that call me. It prioritizes process over product and progress over perfectionism. Action reminds me that getting stuck personally or creatively is sometimes unavoidable, but getting free is just one aligned choice away.
Action invites me to pick up the pen, to go for a walk, to put my hands in the dirt, to listen to my body, to rest, to speak up in a meeting, to get in water, to drink water, to ask for support, to ask to be held, to show up, to say yes, to say no, to say I don’t know, yet.
Action says we get to be the person who takes risks, who expands what is possible, who creates change, who dreams, who writes our own story, who is seen and heard, who determines our own value and worth.
What I like most about action is that, so far, it has never asked me to be someone I am not. Action lets me have all of my feelings and all of my humanness and says, “You are just the right amount of everything to take the next step.”
The weather today (I checked it!) is expected to be sunny and cool. I have been waiting for a day like this to do some light gardening and put my bare feet on the earth. I could spend all afternoon trying to perfect this post, but I’m going to choose the next aligned step (for me) to hit publish and step outside.
Until next time, Mujeres.
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