Spring, Kindness to self and a Good Place
Being kind to yourself, finding peace and embracing the little joys. Or in other words notes to myself.
Dear Reader,
I am glad that Spring is finally here. After looking for signs of Spring in the second half of February, I am now glad that I see Spring in all its vibrant colours these days. But I am not glad that it is March already. Time seems to fly by and at the end of each day I am left wishing for more time. Bad time management on my part? Maybe. Already having a long list of things that I have to do, but still adding more things to do? Guilty!
Knowing the problem is the first step to working towards the solution. But in this case I think I am far away from a solution. Sometimes life demands a lot from you and often there are things that are not in your control, that don’t follow the perfect time blocked, colour coded schedule that you made. Decisions are made concerning you, but they are not decisions that you made. And there is this whole chaos out there, that affects you, but then there is nothing that you can do apart from trying your best to survive. And so you must have an endless list of things that you “must” do. But the creative, whimsical soul in you has a list of things that you “want” to do to keep yourself calm amidst the choas, to satisfy the curiosity of having tried something new, or to just feel like your trueself again! But there is only so much time! And we are back to where we started. Spring is a season of hope, but I know I sound dreary.
And that is where kindness comes in. Not kindness to others, but the kind of kindness that we often forget to show. Being kind to yourself. Accepting that you cannot do everything. And that it isn’t a flaw, it is by design(A feature not a bug - had to get the programming lingo out there). We are human after all!
In the last weeks I have made peace with the pile of books that are waiting to be read(collecting books is also my hobby now), with the fact that I had to extend my library loan for a book that is approximately 260 pages twice(I still wonder how that happened), with all the songs that I want to make covers of, with all the recipes that I want to try, with all the places that I want to explore and with all the never ending list of ideas for creative projects that I want to try.
I didn’t give up on these things. But I made my peace with them. I decided to be kind to myself. I decided to accept that right now, I cannot do all of these things. Some days I might do one of these things that I want to do and that would make me smile. Somedays I can’t do anything that I want to do, but perhaps the satisfaction of having ticked off a few things from the “must” do things would make smile. And then on some days, I would just have a few minutes of doing nothing and that would also be alright.
To be able to do all that we have to do, for ourselves and for others, we first need to remind ourselves to be kind to ourselves. It is easy to be overwhelmed with everything and then blame ourselves for not having done enough, of not being good enough, or of not having tried hard enough. But remember you are enough!
A few days ago, I went on a walk to one of my usual walking routes through a park. It wasn’t very cold and the sun was shining just right. I walked into the park and a sea of crocuses welcomed me. The carpet of mostly purple, dotted with a few yellows and whites, combined with the bird songs left me with happy tears. It was such a beautiful moment. The whole experience reminded me yet again of the therapeutic powers of a walk in nature. It was my good place. I read this community collaborated post on
‘s Substack and it was often the ordinary places that held extraordinary significance. If you want to be a happy person, it is the little things that help in the quest for happiness. Always!
Last week, I saw a gorgeous sunset. Yes, every sunset is beautiful and if you have known me for some time now, you know how I like love watching sunsets. So last week, I watched a lovely sunset overlooking the historic Heidelberg Castle. I have always liked visiting Heidelberg and watching a sunset there was something that I really wanted to do. And I am glad that I finally did it. Here is a short video of it.
Despite not reading much, I finally managed to finish the two books that I was reading. Perfume by Patrick Süskind was a weird but interesting book that I think I liked reading despite the weirdness(if it makes any sense). I also finished “The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians” by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann which made me want to switch my career and start working in library or a bookstore and someday open my own bookstore with a cafe(well that is the most common bibliophile dream right?). I was eagerly waiting to start reading the third book in the Emily Wilde series by
and now that the library books that I borrowed have been read, I can finally start this one. The cover screams Spring and what better time to start it than now, right?And so with all the things that I must do, I am slowly trying to not overwhelm myself. I am trying to be kind to myself, find my good place and do what I can. The occasional time for “things I want to do” makes me feel like myself again and I will continue doing that- be it in tiny doses. And let me close with these questions. How do you practice being kind to yourself and what is your good place?
Until next time.
Be kind to yourself. And smile!