Traditions With Intent

Hot Take: Every tradition started somewhere!

I know, shocking, right?!  

Seriously, I was thinking about some of the traditions that are about to happen in my life over the next couple of months and I can honestly say, I am not sure where all of them came from or how they got started? Like when did we decide that in our family everyone gets new pajamas on Christmas Eve? And why is it important that there is something cranberry flavored at Thanksgiving, even if it means you open a can and dump a jelly cylinder on a plate?

I once heard a joke about a family who always cut the ends off the ham before they put it in the oven and one of the young children asked why. The parent responded, "Because that's what my mom always did." So, they asked grandma, who said, "That's just what my mom always did." So, they asked great grandma who replied, "Because I didn't have a pan big enough to fit the whole ham."

(Insert Dad Joke Eye Roll Here!)

Back to my hot take - every tradition started somewhere.  If that's true, then it seems like we can play an active role in the traditions in our lives.  If they are working for us, we can continue them. If they aren't working anymore, then we can end them, because if they had a beginning, they can also have an ending! And maybe there is something new we would like to start that just might turn into a beautiful tradition in the days and years to come. 

It seems like the thread that holds this all together is Traditions With Intent. Every tradition was started with some intention. If it's working well, we can intentionally keep embracing it. If it isn't working that great anymore, we can intentionally stop it. And if we want to do something new, we can start it with a sense of intentional purpose.

So, if you were going to lean into the coming holiday seasons with some purpose and intent, what would you do? Are there things you absolutely plan to continue because they still hold deep meaning and value? Are there some traditions you might want to reexamine and consider if they are still serving a purpose? Is there something new you want to start that has special meaning and purpose for you in this season of your life?

Regardless of what traditions you may already have, here's to embracing our Traditions with Intent this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center.  We specialize in professional coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you!  Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

Your Mask First!

I travelled this weekend to a lifelong friend's wedding that required being on a couple of airplanes.  I've been on enough flights that I am pretty familiar with the safety briefing, but sometimes there can be various circumstances that make the familiar new again.

Last week I had several conversations that included the topic of self-care practices - the activities and strategies we use to help us refresh and recoup our energy. Most of those chats involved people who are in some type of helping profession whose primary role is to constantly be giving of themselves to others. In those circumstances it's easy to just keep giving and giving, often sacrificing time for ourselves and many of those self-care practices, because there is so much need around us. I suspect this is sounding pretty familiar!

This is why the oxygen mask part of the safety announcement stood out to me a little more this trip. They tell you that if you are travelling with young children or people who may require assistance putting on the oxygen mask, that you should put on Your Mask First, and then assist those who need help with their mask. From a very practical perspective, if you help them first and then you happen to pass out from a lack of oxygen, they can't help you put on your mask. But, if you take care of yourself first, then you will still be capable of helping them with their mask.

I don't think I need to connect too many dots here for you! If we are running low on critical elements of our own healthy functioning, like energy or emotional well-being, it's possible we could get to a point where we don't have any capacity left to help those people who are around us. But if we take a little time for ourselves and make sure we have what we need to function, that isn't being selfish, it's acting in a way that is actually the most caring for those people who are around us.  The struggle is, it's counterintuitive. It feels like what we need to do is just keep helping everyone around us, but it's possible to reach a point where we aren't any good to anyone else around us, and we might actually be doing more harm in the long run by incapacitating ourselves!

If you were going to take some time this week to put on Your Mask First, what kind of activities would you engage? Are there some small steps that you could prioritize this week that would help bring a sense of care and healthy stability for yourself? Would it help to just take a small walk on your break, or listen to music in your car while you eat lunch? Maybe you need to go to bed early one night or spend 5 minutes just being quiet and taking deep breaths? It's important to recognize that small acts of self-care have a cumulative effect on our overall wellbeing, so you don't have to come up with some big gesture, maybe just a series of small actions that help to prioritize you!

Here's to putting on Your Mask First this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center.  We specialize in professional coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you!  Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

Safety Valve!

I'm not sure if you can imagine this, but I have had several conversations in the past week (including with myself!) about the need to blow off some steam. For many of us, that phrase is all about what we need to do with our emotions so they don't get the best of us, but I am old enough to understand where that phrase originated!  

Caution: Nerd Alert!

Before the invention of the combustion engine, most everything that was powered used a steam engine.  You've probably seen an old steam locomotive where fire is used to heat up water, turning it into steam. That steam gets stored in pressurized tanks and then released in streams that have enough force to push parts, that move other parts, that make the locomotive move. 

Before you stop reading, there is another very important part attached to those pressured tanks that keep them from blowing up - the pressure release valve, or Safety Valve.  Basically, if the pressure in the tank gets too high, this valve is triggered and "blows off some steam" so the whole thing doesn't explode.  

Now that you've had a lesson on steam engines (in case you didn't know already), you see where I am going with all of this. We all need a Safety Valve in our lives - ways in which we can blow off some steam so we don't actually blow up!

What are the kinds of practices you use as a Safety Valve to keep you from exploding? Are there people you have in your life who function as a Safety Valve for you - people you know will hold safe space for you while you blow off some steam, knowing they won't take it personally and will keep your confidence? How could you be a Safety Valve for someone else this week who just needs to vent so they don't explode themselves?  

Let's be honest, it sure feels like the pressure around us is continuing to build, so no matter what tools we use, or who we talk to, it's important we all take advantage of our healthy Safety Valves!

Here's to using, and being, a Safety Valve this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center.  We specialize in professional coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you!  Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.