Spending much of the day in a couch cocoon with a regular rotation of Zicam, Airborne and hot tea with honey, I worked to quash the flu-like symptoms brewing in my body. As uncomfortable as it felt to admit, my body said rest. And so I rested. I practiced self care which sounds rather simple and basic but tends to be much more complicated when we start listening to the stories spun my our minds. But here I was, giving an emphatic, “Who cares?!?” when that question popped into my brain, embracing the fact that I know what’s best for me. I needed to pull back, drink fluids and sleep. I needed to pay attention to those signs, lest the universe throws another deer my way to get my attention.
It was while practicing this self-care that I found the blog of Danielle LaPort, a writer, speaker and advisor with an interesting website and a kick-ass attitude. The post that drew me in was The Grand Pep Talk: Decide to Rise (refer to this when in doubt, or sick & tired). This is how it begins:
I’m all for mental health days. And gentleness. And I think the world should take the month of December off. And for the love of God, a 4 day work week would revolutionize the collective human spirit and thusly, healthcare. But this pep talk isn’t about taking it easy, this is about another form of self care: doing whatever it takes.
The contradiction smacked me in the face: Here I was taking it easy, resting up, while reading a post about kicking it into high gear, about showing up in your life, every day, in a go-big-or-go-home kinda way. But maybe it wasn’t such a contradiction. Maybe I needed the rest and recovery to put myself back in position to full engage. And maybe I needed a good old-fashioned kick in the pants to do it.
LaPort’s post implores us to decide to rise, not out of obligation or fear but to explore our place i the universe.
Decide to rise because you want to expand — your being, your life, your possibilities. Decide to rise because super powers are meant to be activated and applied to everyday life.
With a day of homeopathic treatment, my body feels better. With the rereading of the grand pep talk, my soul is ready to bring the best of me to this day. True confession time: Deciding to rise is scary stuff. It’s putting myself out there. It’s being a bit vulnerable. It’s accepting the need to let go of perfection in order to actually live and be and do. Deciding to rise comes from a place of love not a place of protection or what ifs. It is a decision I get to make every day, from moment to moment. Some days my body says rest. Today, my body says let’s go.
Where will you expand and explore? How will you activate your superpowers today? You know you have them. You just have to decide to rise and use them.
