Maybe I Don't Need to Do More

It's been about six years since I've added anything to this little collection of thoughts.

Every once in a while I've thought, I really should write another post.
And then I haven't.

For a long time, I suppose I saw that as something I wasn't keeping up with. Another thing on the list that I should eventually get back to.

Lately, though, I've been wondering if there's another way to look at it.

Maybe I don't need to keep doing something simply because I once decided to do it.

That's a question that comes up surprisingly often in my own life and in my work as a coach: Is this still mine to do?

We accumulate ideas about who we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to keep doing. We create routines, commitments and expectations. Some are imposed on us, and plenty are ones we've created ourselves.

And then we change.

Our lives change. Our bodies change. Our priorities change. What we have energy for changes.

One of the things I appreciate about getting older is that I'm becoming less interested in doing things simply because I think I should.

I'm more interested in paying attention.

What gives me energy? What depletes it? What feels meaningful now? What am I genuinely curious about? What am I ready to let go of?

These are also questions that find their way into my work as a mindfulness-based somatic life coach. So much of coaching is not about becoming a better, more productive version of ourselves. Sometimes it's about becoming quiet enough to recognize what we already know.

Our minds can make very convincing arguments for what we should do. Our bodies often have something interesting to add to the conversation.

So I'm officially giving myself permission not to become a regular blogger again.

That doesn't mean I'll never write here. I might.

If something is tugging at me—a thought, an idea, something I've learned or something I'm still wondering about—I like knowing this space is here.

But I don't need to fill it just because it's empty.

There is something rather lovely about that.

Maybe there is something in your own life that you no longer need to keep doing simply because you've always done it.

It might be worth asking.

Is this still mine to do?