Last week was a hard week. There was a lot going on. So I apologise for the late post. Last Tuesday marked the second-year anniversary of losing a good friend. Tuesday was also the day a dear friend buried his father, and Friday I was on tenterhook’s awaiting the outcome of a family members surgery that could’ve gone either way. I’m so pleased to say it all went well.
It got me thinking about hard things, how sometimes they just happen and other times we’re given time to process them. One of the things they say is the hardest when you’ve lost someone is the “Firsts”. The first day without them, the first birthday, the first holiday, and so on.
Thinking about life in general, I think this is true too. The first day of school, the first friend you made, the first kiss, the first day at university, the first job etc. All the “firsts” are hard and then once the first is completed it becomes easier. The first time you rode a bike it was hard but the more you practiced the easier it became.
On Friday when I felt paralyzed waiting to hear if the surgery had been a success I started to think about “The Firsts” – it made me realise that this could be related to any topic not just in grief or loss. What if we made a list of the “firsts” in starting a morning routine? Or if there is a side hustle we want to start or a project or hobby. It could literally be applied to anything.
So I decided to make a list of “Firsts” for my morning routine and for my business project. With my morning routine I found that I was running out of time before Id completed everything and so I needed to wake up a half hour earlier. I put that down on my list – the first day I managed to wake up 30 mins earlier – tick. And its not just about ticking the boxes as you do them, its also a metric to see how far you’ve come – how much you are capable of, fast or slow there is progress showing you are moving forward in a positive way.
So this week I encourage you to think of something that’s been hard, starting a new routine, starting a new project or maybe you have lost a loved one recently, I wish you love and strength at this difficult time, make a list of the firsts it will helps you move forward and show that you can do hard things.
“Bravery isn’t so much a choice as it is the willingness to do the hard things even when we are scared.” (MaryBeth Eiler)
Here's to ticking off the firsts,
(Photo credit: Unsplash Cristi Ursea)