TIP: PLAN YOUR OWN BIRTHDAY.
This week, I was grateful to celebrate my birthday and the first birthday of Expansive Impact: an invitation to lead in everyday moments!
First and most importantly: thank you to everyone who has purchased a copy of Expansive Impact; shared a copy with a friend, coworker, relative, or manager; written an Amazon review; picked up a few copies for your library at work; requested a copy from your favorite local bookstore; or supported the book in some way.
A related note: the audio book is going through final approvals now, and should be available soon.
Second: related to birthdays, a tip for this week — plan your own birthday (or, replace “birthday” with something that feels meaningful to you).
I love birthdays as a time to pause, reflect, and celebrate the tremendous gift of welcoming a new year of life.
However, for my own birthday, I have often done some version of the following:
Take the day off (sometimes)
Not make any actual plans
Subconsciously expect for something fun or magical to happen (which sometimes it did, but often it did not)
As you can imagine, the above approach was not terribly effective.
Fast forward to this year, which involved a new approach.
I took the day off.
There was a low-key solo itinerary involving many of my favorite things, in one of my favorite places.
There was an open invitation to join for all or part of the day.
As a delightful surprise, one of my dear friends joined me for a visit, and Jake took the day off.
The day was joyful, nourishing, soul-filling.
It was spent mostly unplugged, outside, in the sunshine.
I would go so far as to say it was perfect.
My reflections around this?
If something is meaningful to us, it's okay to say that it is meaningful.
If sitting down as a family for dinner is meaningful to us, it's okay to say so.
If checking in and sharing two-way feedback with our manager on a monthly basis is important to us, it's okay to say so and to add this to our recurring agenda.
If doing introductions in a group setting is important to us, it's okay to say so —and to kick off the process by going first.
If there's something that we'd like to improve, shift, or change in our lives —even something as small or seemingly silly as how we spend our birthday —we can almost always do so, even if in some small way.
If we wish the weekly meeting was more organized at work, we can offer to take charge of the agenda.
If we wish we had more of a culture of appreciation and recognition, we can start by writing someone a thank you note.
If we would like for our other family members to remember things that are important to us, we can put a post-it on the fridge that contains important dates.
If we want to create a new family tradition for holidays, we can create one.
Additional related resources you might enjoy:
→ Why I'm Excited About Aging - a comic pep talk (Cup of Jo Blog)
“Living things change as they age. All of them. Even trees! Even celebrities!”
Questions to CONSIDER:
Is there something that is important to me that I haven't explicitly expressed? What could it look like to do so?
What is one thing —even if it feels silly or small —that I'd like to positively shift, change, or improve in my life? What could it look like to take action on this?
