There’s no doubt 2020 will stick firm in our memories. Despite being in pandemic related reaction mode for much of the first half of the year, time has flown by with days blurring into weeks and now months.
Given we’re just over half way through the year, it’s a good time to do a retrospective on your year to date. This is not a forward planning exercise. It’s a looking back, a reflection, to give you time to celebrate your successes and really enjoy them for a few moments. It’s for musing over what’s no longer serving you and how best to let it go, if you haven’t already.
Questions you might want to think about include:
• what are you most proud of in 2020?
• what’s gone particularly well & continues to serve you well?
• what brings you the most joy & how much time do you allocate for this each day/ week/ month?
• what’s gone less well & have you shed this from your work/ life?
• what lessons have you learned?
We often refer to metamorphosis when discussing change;
“The metamorphosis from a caterpillar into a butterfly occurs during the pupa stage. During this stage, the caterpillar’s old body dies and a new body forms inside a protective shell known as a chrysalis. Moth caterpillars and many other insect larvae spin silk coverings for the chrysalis.”
Time spent reflecting on the great work you’ve done so far is a critical stage of your metamorphosis. Allow yourself some time to get comfortable with this so you can fully realise your potential, before you move on. This ‘shedding’ process is all important. Not just in the boundaries you set but in the intentions you make for moving forward.
In the words of Maya Angelou: “we delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty”.