Nothing Set, Nothing Wasted

A Year of Possibilities

This month’s Exhale Blog Hop challenge was to write a recap of your year in 365 words.  

I created a spine poem of sorts with meaningful phrases, mantras, and musings from each month, adding up to 365 words. (You can click on each month to see the original posts, if there was one.)

January / /

It is safe to embrace more & more possibilities

February / /

Pursuing Creativity Alongside OCD Recovery

March / /

I don’t need to solve it

April / /

Turns out you don’t have to wait to do the thing you want to do.

You can start now, start scared.

Without a plan or with a half-baked plan.

You can start if you’re disorganized, anxious, or resistant.

Even if your life or house is a mess, you’re allowed to start.

Even if you’re not an expert or an influencer.

With the pit in your stomach as a constant companion.

(Here’s a secret—you’ll probably never feel ready. You may never arrive at that “just right” feeling.)

Start anyway.

You don’t have to wait.

May / /

My antidote to OCD is whimsy–letting myself feel joy and frivolity. Doing the hard, scary, counter-intuitive thing is that much easier when I infuse my actions with a little levity.

June / /

I’m in my self-compassion era

My beyond superficial self-care era.  My bubble baths are not enough era. It’s my not judging my feelings era. Also, welcome to the two or ten things are true at once era. The end of self-punishment era. Let’s make my mind a loving home era. See: embracing good enough era. The no more double standards era.

I guess you could call this the next stage in my recovery era.

Finally admitting I’m allowed to be human, too, era.

July / /

I won’t know if I chose best

I can live my life with *zest*

August / /

Slow, quiet, small

September / /

Learning to be held, buoyed by my community, carried by the work I have already done.

Like a mother comforting a child, patting rhythmically, rocking and swaying.

Sshh, shh, you are safe. I am here.

You are safe.

I am here.

I realize that I am that mother, fierce and tender, capable of holding and being held.

In this moment, I choose to be held.

October / /

Fallow

Even if, even now, good enough

November / /

Nothing is set, nothing is wasted

December / /

Let the margins be the margins

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This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series "365 Words".