I’ve been thinking about choosing a theme for 2023, and the word that keeps rising to the surface is permission.
Since I work from home and always have, it feels as if I shouldn’t need permission for anything. But in order to get through the COVID days, I made my schedule more rigid than it had ever been before. Now I’d like to loosen things up again, but unwinding from the past 2-3 years is easier said than done.
For example, the other day I sat down at my desk at 7:30 and worked til 11 when I could feel my left shoulder actively hurting…again. I decided that there was only one thing to do. Swim. So I headed to the pool for 45 minutes before a 1 PM meeting. On the way, I texted my husband.
“I gotta get my head straight because I feel guilty for swimming.”
“You do,” he said. “Just like I have to stop counting the minutes I spend eating a meal.” MFEO.
Pause.
“You are a creative professional. Having a clear head is not a loss in efficiency.”
One of the things I value most (and which makes my work possible!) is having a clear head. And the only person who can give me permission to make more space for creativity, joy, rest, and having a clear head is me.
So the following is an incomplete of things I’m giving myself permission to do more of in 2023:
Permission to meet and talk more often with writers and other interesting people
Permission to read during the day
Permission to learn on my own and with others
Permission to swim
Permission to be quiet
Permission to walk every day when it’s light out
Permission to go to bed early and wake up early even if it makes me old lady
Permission to like the things I like without apology
If you could give yourself permission to do anything at all in the coming year, what would it be?
(Photo by Jan Tinneberg)