We all have quotations and sayings that stick in our minds for their accuracy and wisdom. I can’t remember who said this or where it came from. It goes something like “we over-estimate what we can achieve in one year and under-estimate what we can achieve in a decade”.
Perhaps 2020 will go down in history as a particular year of major under-achievement for many of us! At least in regards to what we imagined we were going to be doing. Of course many of us have been nudged (or forcibly kicked) into new directions, and that is in itself an achievement …..
I tend to be harsh in regards to my annual self-audit. Suddenly it’s the end of the year and what have I actually done with my precious time?
But a decade? I find that a very exciting yard-stick.
Ten years ago I was putting on my daily armour and parading on the corporate battle-field. I was solving complex problems, balancing divergent interests, supporting and growing people through their daily challenges. My brain was spinning, but my body and heart had been largely left behind. I was constantly in motion but mostly just running around in circles.
What a difference a decade has made.
I left that work environment and studied Interior Design. I gave up financial security for the chance to explore other parts of myself. I took up exercise – scarcely able to unbend my stiffened spine for the first few years. Now panting, puffing (still complaining!) but lifting weights and stretching in ways I could never have imagined.
I’ve been a carer and, like most carers, forgotten to take care for myself. I’m still re-learning how to do this.
A decade ago I excitedly joined a small group of women on a Sunday afternoon who were all happily and industriously engaged in their craft projects. I sat a little separate to the group, totally paralysed, unable to pick up a pencil or cut a piece of paper. I found that I wasn’t able to connect with this part of myself at all.
And now, I’m on the brink of launching a range of OLIO cushions in my own fabric designs. I couldn’t have predicted it, and yet it is all about a decade of thousands of tiny steps in this direction.
A lot really can happen!