hi, dear friends.
at the time of my last writing, I’d just finished a crazy busy year at seminary and a summer greek intensive. I was worn out. since then, the last month has been an invitation into an experiment. “what will mick do if they have nothing on their schedule except therapy every other week?”
and the answer has been, mostly, whatever I want. I’ve picked up some extra chores around the house and have been preparing slowly for seminary year three, but it’s honestly been a restful month. I was able to refinish a desk (something I had never tried before) which turned into a lovely new work space for me; I’ve been organizing and upgrading that work space (there might be a video tour coming soon…); I’ve continued practicing tennis whenever I feel like it and the weather is decent; and I got to design and start selling a notion template on etsy for fellow students!
living as an autistic and ADHD person means that the way I set rhythms and life practices is, well, complicated. to say the least. in the past, I have found myself obsessed with doing all the things and doing them all perfectly, and I feel like the last month has been an invitation to unlearn that. I’ve had a chance to truly break almost every rhythm in my life in favor of rest. and I’ve actually loved it! it’s scary to think about living without rhythms or even signposts to mark the passing of time, but it’s been surprisingly joyful.
looking forward to my last month of summer break, I’ve now set my sights on the blank slate that is my time. I aim to start creating new rhythms that will sustain me through the busy senior year ahead, but also further than that into whatever ministry lies before me, so I’m experimenting in the upcoming month. I recently watched Rowena Tsai’s video on slow productivity and took some time to outline 6 values that are most important to me in life, both for this last year at seminary and over my whole life, and then wrote down some non-negotiables that I want to make my daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly rhythms. they’re not all huge things, but I felt like they captured what I value most in actionable ways.
as I wrote in the list above, one of my lifelong values is relationships with chosen family and friends. in the image below, you’ll see my daily intention is to “simple connect” with one friend a day. this could be a quick text or a comment on an instagram post. my weekly intention is a longer connection with 1 friend, and I blocked out an hour on my calendar each weekend to reserve that space. my monthly intention is to attend or create some community-building event wherever I am, whether hosting friends for dinner or a more elaborate event. finally, my yearly intention is to have 1 reunion with an out of state friend.
will all these rhythms fit perfectly and will I follow them perfectly? of course not! this is why I have called them rhythms. and I aim to revisit this list regularly and see what is working and what needs changing.
if you find yourself in a season of transition as well, consider this your invitation to take an hour or so to revisit your rhythms! what do you find most important? how can you translate those values into daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly actions? remember, perfection is not the goal. progress doesn’t even have to be the goal! we are simply invited to live present for each and every moment we have on this beautiful earth.
love to you all, and talk to you soon!
—m.