Latest / MIDDLE GROUND - Real Conversations on Faith, Identity & Becoming — Through Brynne's LDS Lens of Curiosity, Love and Doubt / No Resolution Required: Permission to Rest, Reset and Start When You're Ready
Transcript
- Brynne Erickson (00:28) Hello, happy new year, everybody. I don't know about you, but the last thing I want to do is be making new goals for the year. I am kind of done with planning and all the things that the holidays entail. And it was lovely and beautiful and I loved it. but I'm just ready to just chill and rest for a little bit. I've learned about myself that I love flowing more with the seasons than the calendar. And that works really well for me. I'm also the kind of person that if I want to start something tomorrow, I'm just going to start it tomorrow. Like I, every moment is a new moment. to start over or have a new mindset or try again. But as far as sitting down with your notebook and reflecting and diving into maybe some goals, I like to do that a little bit later, kind of with the spring and like April-ish. And then try, just want to kind of hunker down and. stay cozy and work on house projects and hang out with my kids and not go outside where it's cold. And that's been working for me the past couple of years. So flowing with the season. So if you were feeling any pressure to have to do goals or hit the gym or become something new this year, I'm just gonna allow you to release that pressure right now. The only person putting that pressure on you is you, my dear. And you can let go of that at any time and change your expectations for the year. And guess what? You can come back to that goal at any time too, when it feels right. I have attempted the same goal so many times. It just looks different each time. It's funny. I have this workout system. It's called a health sherpa. I really like it. Specifically for women and working with our hormones. It's 12 week program. You do three days. It's a 20 minute hit workout three times a week. And I really love it. But how many times have I actually completed the 12 weeks? Zero. Zero. And I've attempted to complete it. ⁓ gosh. Maybe like four or five times. But guess what? Every time I try it, I get a little further. And that's awesome. So that's what I think this life is all about. It's just seeing what you can do and deciding who you want to become. what do you want to do? are we going to be graded on how much we accomplished while we were here? I don't think so. Did you learn something? Did you become somebody? Like there's a gazillion different ways to become someone. Even laying on the couch is being, it's a state of being, right? And some days that's what you need to do. And as I have been on this journey of intuitiveness, so listening to what my mind and heart and body are telling me. ⁓ I rest a lot without guilt and it's really nice. ⁓ There's a saying that you're... Your actions need to align with your energy. And that's been an interesting thing for me to learn. Where... I'm more of the mindset like you just push through, you just do it, you make it happen. And I think there is a time and a place for that, especially with deadlines. But for day to day in my life where there really aren't many deadlines, like I create the deadline of when laundry needs to be done, when the meal needs to be on the table, ⁓ when there were doing the sports or not. And it's been interesting to take ownership of my energy with each actions. And I don't have a regular period. I do not have a cycle. ⁓ I really haven't. And that's an awesome blessing until you want to have babies and then things get complicated. so for a lot of women, your cycle kind of does dictate your energy. and your capacity for that time. And as one that has not, I don't have that. And I know that that looks different for everyone. you've got, man, you've got premenopausal and menopausal and postmenopausal, right? So our bodies regulate our energy, especially as women. I would imagine as men, it's probably the same. It just looks different. We as our bodies need to rest and renew. And some days I need two hours to just sit on the couch in the morning. My alarm clock goes off, starts crying, go get him and I'll just sit on the couch. And some days I don't need to sit on the couch and other days it's 20 minutes and some days it's truly two hours. I just need to just rest a little bit longer before I get going. And it has been awesome to pay attention to that and not judge myself. And it's amazing that when I honor needing a rest from 15 minutes to two hours, I can be so much more productive after that. when I actually take the time to be rested. And I've loved that and I love taking advantage of that. I love naps. I've always loved naps. My mom said I took two naps a day until I went to kindergarten. I sure love my sleep, but just honoring what our body needs and what that could look like. And obviously if you go to work, you can't just stop and take a nap. ⁓ But you could get creative, right? Like during your lunchtime, go out to your car and put on an eye mask and shut your eyes or I don't know if you're in a cubicle, can you like climb under your desk or something? You can get creative. Yeah, honoring that energy. What does your body need? What does your mind need? What does your heart need this year? Is it a year to hit a goal really hard to be super ambitious? Or is it a year to start off slow? Maybe take a little step in the direction of a goal, of an ambition? Maybe just getting curious of what that could look like for you? ⁓ start thinking about it. guess winter is more like my planning phase. Like I just kind of start thinking, getting some ideas of maybe some things I'd like to try or do or what a certain goal or ambition that I have to look like for me. And that's, it's been really fun, but I do a full evaluation probably twice a year, where I evaluate every aspect of my life and I refine my goals. I reflect how they're going. ⁓ what I could do differently, what I felt in the process of doing it. What went well, what was easy, what was fun. How could I make it more easy, more fun when I could try differently? ⁓ I really do love setting goals. My mom. She's one of the most organized people I know. It's a huge gift of hers and people seek her out for that. We started goal sheets when I was probably like eight. And it's so fun. kept some of them and like my brother, one of his goals when he was probably like eight was to go to Harvard and he did that. Like a lot of our goals we accomplished. I did not have eight children. That was something that I wanted to accomplish. ⁓ three has been great. And yeah, she just taught us to think about our lives and who we want to be and what we want to try and how we can, how we could contribute to our community and our family. And I think those things are important. in helping us take ownership of our lives and seeing that we actually can become who we want to become. And that's really empowering. So 2026 is going to be great. Whether you're going all in, super hardcore, more power to you, or if you're going to, you know, just continue being the awesome you and taking it as it comes. There's no right or wrong way. of doing a year. It's funny how from December 31st to January 1st, it seems so magical. And maybe it is, if that's the mindset that you have. But for me, it's honestly just another day. And if a calendar didn't exist, it'd literally be just another day. So you decide how your year is going to be. I'm cheering you on. No matter what you decide. I just encourage you to like what you choose to do with your time and the person that you're becoming. Make it a great one.