A few weeks ago, I was joined by the very amazing Casey Jourdan of the Steady She Grows podcast. Casey is a business strategist, war veteran, Purple Heart recipient, and a multipassionate like many of the readers, here. After coming home from Iraq with physical injuries and post traumatic stress, she found that her once steady Faith shifted. As someone who had once wanted to study to become an ordained minister, this was a shock to her. And, she approached this shift with curiosity, care, and the eyes of “what fits now?”
I was really inspired by how she took the time to mindfully assess what had changed for her, and how it impacted her life and her beliefs. You can find that part of our conversation around the 36 minute mark of the interview, by clicking here. And that openness is our inspiration for the week as I share that you can learn how can you learn to do a “stop, start, continue” to figure out what fits in your life.
Inspiration: It’s this idea that your life can change and that change can well, change you. It’s important to stop for a moment and take notice of when things change and when things maybe don’t feel right or fit you anymore. It’s also inspiring to see that even when things change drastically, like they did for Casey, that you still have options and that things will turn out OK.
Intention: I want to hold space for something that doesn’t feel right in my life, and mindfully notice it so that I can choose what works for me now. I give myself permission to release what isn’t working, or what doesn’t fit, no matter how big or how ingrained it is in who I’ve been brought up to be.
Action: Do a “Stop, Start, Continue” exercise. This is a great activity that helps set the foundation you’re working on for this new year. You basically take a piece of paper and draw out three columns across the page, labeling the headers “Stop, Start, Continue”.
Learn How To Do a “Stop, Start, Continue” to Figure Out What Fits in Your Life
Stop: In this column, write out the things that you want to stop doing. The things that pop up here might be the things that no longer serve you, or feel right to you any more. Do this in the honor question, “does this still fit?”
Start: Now, the next column, (it doesn’t have to be directly correlated to your stop column), write out what are some of the things you want to start doing? What is the foundation that you want to put into place for this next year for yourself? Be careful of any “shoulds” that pop up here – this list is for the things that you are joyfully choosing for yourself.
Continue: This is the area for things you want to keep doing. You know what they are. These things work. You love them, and they fit you now.
This offers you a great set of things that you can refer back to as the year progresses, and use as a cornerstone for what is fitting and working for you now. The trick here is that if something starts to feel off, or feels like it doesn’t fit, then that is another invitation for you to revisit your stop, start, continue list.
Let me know in the comments what you discover!