How Do You Want To Awaken This Spring?

April is absolutely stunning in the Netherlands, it is as if all those long grey months which proceeded it were making way for the awaking of such incredible beauty and new life. The flower beds are bursting with color, the trees grow leaves at a staggering pace, even the coldest of hearts are warmed by the sight of baby animals.  

Like a lamb shaky on its legs for the first time we are all venturing out into spring, one that is vastly different from the last two and yet strangely familiar at the same time. Did you know the last weeks are the third sunniest ever? 2020 was also one of the sunniest springs on record and a time when we turned inward, creating new habits, connecting via technology, and spending more time than ever at home.  

What has changed since then? Potentially everything and nothing.  

We have coined Work from Home (WFH), we use Zoom in a similar way to Google – let’s zoom, we have no time and feel exhausted, back to riding the train without a mask and social distancing seems like a thing of the past.  

Lately, I have been thinking about my pre-pandemic life, what I loved and what I loathed, and the last few days reflecting the last days on the positive bi-products of the pandemic. As spring awakens around me it has me contemplating how I want to emerge from what feels like the longest winter of my life. 

Some of the questions I’ve asked myself are: What are the best bits of my old life? What have I learned? Maybe most importantly, what do I want to take with me? 

My life is slower, more balanced. I find myself more accountable and making fewer excuses. My phone is down and I am present. 

Yet, if I am honest, I initially overcommitted myself with the newfound freedom post lockdown… it is so incredibly easy it is to slip back into old habits. I was not impressed with myself. So I took the time to reflect, reconnecting to my values, thinking about how I wanted to feel. Getting clarity on who I am, and separating that from what or who I want to be. For example, I am a YES person that is still learning the fine art of saying NO. 

Awaking into the best version of myself sounds cliché, even to me.  

Mostly likely because of my own conditioning;  I could not possibly be the best version of myself today, and most likely never will be if I continue to hold myself to the crazy unobtainable standards, that have been packaged as attainable.  

My secret for pushing past this is understanding that maybe I was wrong and maybe what I was taught was also flawed. By acknowledging these two deep-seated facts I can accept them and make my own decision as to what to do about them. 

This spring I am going to awaken into the best version of myself, full stop.  

When I look in the mirror I am accountable to myself, I know if I am being the best version of myself or not. I am not talking about perfection, I am talking about you looking yourself in the mirror knowing that you are your best today, let’s deal with yesterday and tomorrow another day. 

So let me leave you with one final question, how do you want to awaken this spring? 

Brought to you by Allyson Kukel founder of Rooted in Calm.  Allyson helps her clients cultivate balance in their life, providing support and confidence to live purposefully, in accordance with their values, goals, and desires.