I shared with you last week that I wasn’t going to be publishing any new content in the month of April, simply to give myself some space and time to develop a consistent content schedule for my writing and let the actual writing to flow through of me / shake out of me / violently thrash its way through me. Fellow writers, you know what I mean.
So this week, I’m popping in with a tiny bit of encouragement. Not a full-blown blog post. But a sentiment.
Let’s see if it lands for you. See if it hits on something you needed to hear.
It’s this —
You are not behind.
As Glennon Doyle has so eloquently put it in Love Warrior: “You can’t miss your boat. It’s yours. It stays docked till you’re ready.”
I share this because I’ve seen a lot of, “This year is NOT going as planned!”
I think I speak for all of us when I say a deeply emphatic whilst exhausted, true.
And underneath the angst, frustration, and disappointment of how this year is not panning out as you had expected or hoped, I suspect there’s this other thought fewer of us are willing to share – “I thought I’d be farther along by now.”
Or, from the Analyst Tribe: I’m smart. How have I not figured out how to [insert the thing you’re most frustrated with right now]?
From the Diplomat Tribe: I thought I’d have more accomplished by now, by the start of the second quarter. Why is this so hard for me?
From the Sentinel Tribe: I thought I’d have this #shelterinplace thing under control by now – I mean, it’s been three weeks. Am I the only one who is still a hot mess?
From the Explorer Tribe: I’m usually so good at handling things on the fly – you’d think I’d be a pro at this – but I’m not where I want to be right now.
Are you wrestling with a version of this, too?
Blame it on COVID-19 turning our lives upside down. Blame it on the calendar page turning to April. Blame it on our human nature that just refuses to be satisfied.
Whatever the reason, where we are right now is not where we expected to be.
And that’s okay. It really, really is.
You are not behind.