Trying To Keep It All Together
I recall a pivotal Last week on my birthday, my friend offered for me to pull a card from her I Am A Queen oracle deck as a gift for my day. I absolutely loved this, until it was that I saw the card that I picked. I turned it over and it read, “The Queen of Trying To Keep It All Together.” Key word...trying! I thought immediately to return it back to the deck and to pull another one, thinking maybe I got the wrong one. After all, it was my birthday and I was meant to be celebrating! It's probably clear that in that moment, I was judging the card’s message very hard! Sure, I could have pulled another one or better yet pretended that it never happened, but instead I let the message marinate. This last week I have been sitting with the idea: what does it really mean to keep it all together?
Is it about having a career and life where you're joyful and satisfied all the time?
Does it mean that you're balancing everything in your life so perfectly that you could have a yoga pose named after you?
Is it that you have checked all the proverbial boxes to your life’s to do list?
Or does it mean that you are emotionless and appear calm all the time?
I for one have certainly craved the feeling of having it together very much, a close cousin to the feeling of perfectionism.The dictionary definition of keeping “it” together is: To ensure someone or oneself remains in a functional, coherent, emotionally stable condition, especially despite or in the midst of some trouble or difficulty.
Reading this definition actually feels a little cringeworthy. When we’re going through difficulty in our lives, there’s enough going on with your feelings, thoughts, emotions, logistics and more, that having the added pressure to remain functional and emotionally stable through it all, is far too much to expect. No wonder this concept feels so far out of reach. What if instead of striving to keep it all together, we aimed instead to keep our hearts open?
I'd love to invite you to ask yourself...
Where in your life are you working so hard to keep it together? What could happen if you softened into allowing whatever needed to come up? What would change if you truly let yourself be present with your heart? I’d love to hear from you, please share what comes up for you!
Quote of the week:
“When we are living in the seed of our hearts we are forgiving, we are creating, we are letting go and we are letting in.”
— Sarah Blondin
With ♡ and gratitude,
Jennifer