Creating Your Rhythm

Today is Monday and, though I hate to sound like an Instagram cliché ,this day is haaarrrddd!

I’m a fan of noticing your personal rhythm. I’m no psychologist but am in tune with things enough to know everyone has one. A few years ago I noticed my week is really from Thursday to Sunday and my weekends are Monday thru Wednesday. I’m most in tune, focused, and goal orientated Thurs-Sun. I tend to be prone to self care, low key work, and even putting things off Mon-Wed.

Can you guess which was taken on a weekend and which one is today, Monday?

I believe it’s from having a chronic illness (fibromaylgia). I build my energy and focus on my health the first 3 days of the week so I can be as fully engaged in the weekend when the family is together. Our family time is important. Of course these days we spend most of our time home together but pre-covid, we would take day trips or long weekends. We do still do so some volunteer work, worship together, and try to get some outside time. In any event, by the time Monday rolls around I’m exhausted. It takes me 3 days to recover, then I start all over.

This is what I mean by living “creatively.” We all do it, even if we don’t realize it or if we call it something different. We all adapt. My adapting my week to my health is creating a schedule that works for me, curating my life so I am as effect and happy as possible!

Own It!

Photo of Twila Thorpe taken by a photographer for GAP

I often hear women, of all ages, say "I can't wear that color," "Everyone will think I lost my mind if I wore that!" Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, I understand that. We all make the decision to be guided by a moral compass.  That's not my issue. What does bother me, however, is when our likes and dislikes aren't our own. When they have been determined by another person or group of people. Likes and dislikes that are really shaped by the boundaries of other people's insecurities and, usually unsolicited, opinions. Even the fact that someone has always been a certain way, or at least has appeared to others as always being a certain way, does not doom them to forever being in that box. I have witnessed client's eyes light up while we were mapping their makeup look, only to then dim after some invisible voice reminds them of their supposed limitations. "I can't wear that, my kids would say I'm crazy!"

Living Deliberately

Over 15 years ago I took a business enrichment seminar and the theme of the seminar was, "Be Deliberate." It turned out to be one of the most profound statements of my life and has become part of my the personal mantra. To me, being deliberate means living consciously. There are things I have control over in my life and things that I don't. If I am deliberate the things I have control over; how I interact with others, the amount of time I spend with my family, what direction I want my business to go, for example, I will not just let daily life decide for me. I will shape my day, I will control my schedule, I will choose to be kind or patient. The things I don't have control over like the illnesses of loved ones, or duties that put desires on the back burner, I deliberately let go of the impulse to fix or control. Instead I choose to support my family with my positive spirit and words, and in any physical way possible. I deliberately choose to be grateful for all the blessings and good things in my life, and look at my duties as a small price to pay.