It's a new year and already I can feel the difference. After stewing about it for a long time, I have resigned from a board and a committee with organizations I believe in strongly. It was difficult to do because I had signed on and I felt like I was letting people down. But then I felt a burst of energy when I realized how much time I had opened up for myself. When we first moved to Roseville a year and a half ago, we got involved in several organizations so we could make a contribution and start to build a new community. But now I see that I said yes too many times. I need to redesign my calendar so there are some nice empty spaces to do art, to write, to learn new things.
As one who encourages people to declutter, I often ask people to look at what they are doing that might no longer thrill them. It probably did when they first joined this committee or that book club but maybe now they are doing it because they are afraid of the reaction when they say it's time to move on to something else. And personally I find it very difficult to admit that I am moving on to take care of my own passion. I was trained to put others' needs first. And I thought that would be a big part of my life in retirement.
But this year I am trying to remember the words of Forrest Church, a Unitarian Universalist who died recently. He said; Be Who You Are; Want What You Have and Do What You Can. Fine words for a new decade.
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