Perspective, as in Keeping a Good One in 2019

So I was driving to work this morning and listening, as I usually do, to the Bright Line Eating Bright Lifers Accountability Call and heard Dr. Susan Peirce-Thompson talking to the caller about keeping things in perspective when it dawned on me how essential this is. Perhaps my word for 2019 will be Perspective. I haven't really been doing much with  my word of the year -- other than thinking a bit about it in January and letting a theme come to me. I tried taking Ali Edwards' "One Little Word" course two times and only got 1-2 months completed so I don't think I will do that again, but I do like the practice of thinking a bit about what's going on in my life, what I'm working on, or thinking about and then usually a word just comes to me. Past words have been: Courage, Authenticity, Joy, and Intentional. I'm going to live with this idea of Perspective for a bit. For me it means keeping things in perspective, but also staying present and looking at things from the present perspective rather than through a filter of what happened in the past -- or what could happen in the future. Also, of looking at things from my Perspective. Is this feeling mine, or am I picking it up from someone else? Is this problem mine, or am I trying to solve someone elses problem, or fix an issue that they need to work through? I certainly struggle with co-dependency at times and so these are good questions to ask.

I also encountered this blog post from a couple of years ago that was linked to in an email newsletter I receive from Tsh Oxenreider's "The Art of Simple" blog. It had just the right wisdom for me right now. I do a lot of thinking about Friends and Friendships -- okay maybe I'm a bit obsessed, and I don't think I'm very good at making them or at being one. I need so much alone time and am working full-time that it's hard to find time to give to anyone other than immediate family, but friendships are so important to me. This article has a good reminder to stop being too picky and to not overlook those people who are already in your life. On Making Friends, and Partial Solutions by Tsh Oxenreider.

Tsh's 2019 Letter from the Editor also resonated with me. Particularly this section about Social Media. I definitely want to read more deeply and engage more deeply in 2019 and spend a whole lot less time surfing social media for the snack food of relationships -- I do love to see people's photos though so won't give it up altogether (don't think I could anyway). In fact I just bought some more stamps before the postage goes up because I thought I might even write some old fashioned letters and send them snail mail!

"A Word About Social Media: I don’t hate it. It’s just not where I want to focus most of my creative energy, and I think it’s contributed a great deal to our culture’s shortened attention spans, incessant arguing without listening, and preference for sound bites over substance.

It’s not always good for me personally, either; I find I need regular breaks from it to keep my sanity. I’m pretty much completely off Facebook (and have been for over a year now), I check in on Twitter several times a week because I actually enjoy some chatter there, but I don’t sweat strategizing anything and I log off the second it bothers me.

I have a more complicated relationship with Instagram — I both love and hate it. It can be a beautifully simple place, and it can eat me up inside. Anytime I start sweating the numbers, I have to remind myself: I don’t care about being Instafamous. My job description isn’t Instagram Influencer, nor do I want it to be."