permission to experiment
enjoying flexibility as a tool
I pull up all the blinds to ensure my front row seat to the sky — a thunderstorm is rolling through as I sit down to write this week’s newsletter. Lightning branches across all three windows and it sounds like angels are bowling above me. Ever since someone told me that thunder sounds like a universal game of bowling, I can’t think of anything else (I wish I could remember who told me this).
I began this week with the intention to be flexible. This week I shifted from my orientation schedule of 8am-4pm to my second shift schedule of 3pm-11:30pm. I knew I’d need to give myself some space for the adjustment, hence the reminder to utilize flexibility as a tool.
For years, I've been becoming more of a morning person, going to bed somewhere between 9-10pm. I’ve fallen in love with being an early riser so shifting back to my old night owl tendencies is a big change.
Rather than feeling like I needed to transition perfectly during my first week on second shift, I made a promise to myself to be flexible and treat the next month like an experiment.
Asking myself gentle questions along the way to find out what feels best —
How can I spend my day before it’s time to leave for work? Do I need movement? Fresh air? Creative time? Nothing time? A nap? A brain dump in my journal? Linner? Caffeine for the road?
How can I decompress from work on the commute home? How can I wind down once I make it inside after midnight? Do I watch something or read something? Do I set alarms for the next morning or let myself sleep until I wake up naturally?
While thinking through my experiment, I remembered my friend Rosa’s daytime nap experiment that she conducted during the middle of the pandemic. If my memory serves me correctly she was inspired by The Nap Ministry, who declares that rest is resistance and prioritizing any form of rest is a radical act. I remembered Rosa’s approach to be sweet yet scientific as she measured how it made her feel. As she paired naps with hypnosis tracks and took a variety of approaches to the new habit. She treated herself with such kindness as she reviewed her observations and noted changes.
The pressure we put on ourselves when we enter a new season of life can be filled with expectations of how quickly we “should” be able to adapt. But that “should”melts away when we give ourself permission to view the transition time as an experiment, where there is no rush to commit to anything too early. Where we can listen to the internal feedback of whether something is or isn’t working.
So far I am finding that sleeping in without alarms feels abundant. And a walk around the neighborhood before getting dressed for work feels like a delicious transition. And when I’m back on my way home, I love that I have enough time to close mental work tabs before I even get out of the car. So that when I walk in the door I am back to my personal life, a boundary I haven’t had in years. I can watch one episode of something or put on a frequency or read with a night light. The rest of the world is asleep and I somehow feel like a kid staying up way past their bedtime, giddy with the feeling of getting away with something.
Whether you’re in a new season of life or you’re transitioning into a different schedule for the summer, I hope there is less “should” energy and more of an inquisitive “does this feel right?” energy in your days right now.
May your days be filled with experimental energy! May you note what feels good and what does not! May you remember that a full body no is just as important of a result as a full body yes!
You are the leader of this experiment, only you will know when you’ve crafted the perfect equation.
With Love,
Jenna
Is there a part of your schedule or daily routine that you feel needs some extra attention? Take some time to zoom out from how you are currently doing it and ask yourself how you can be more flexible with figuring out what is best for you in this space of the day. Write some gentle questions for yourself — what are you wanting to achieve out of this part of your schedule/routine? Do you have any ideas of how you can make these changes? Or things you’d like to experiment with? If so, make a list of the different activities/actions/environmental changes you’d like to test out.
See what comes up and then decide if you’d like to conduct your own experiment. If so, form the experiment with duration/measurements/etc (this can be as simple and minimal as you desire) — how long will you run the experiment for? How will you note changes/measure results? How will you know when you have the right equation? Could there be different equations that feel best for different seasons? Etc…
Feel free to share what inspiration and ideas surface for you in the comments below ~ reading examples from other people can be a helpful form of brainstorming for our own experiments.
The next Monthly Forecast Circle is only two weeks away, happening on June 29th at 10am! Come reflect on June and prepare for July :) Register in advance to get the zoom link!
On Thursday (June 20th) we have our annual Summer Solstice Sound Bath & Candle-Lit Labyrinth Walk at Lynden Sculpture Garden. Tickets are still available here!
July’s Buck Full Moon is going to be a magical day at Lynden Sculpture Garden. Starting with a sound bath and labyrinth walk in the morning, then a full moon mini-market with local readers and vendors in the afternoon and finishing strong with an incredible Astrology For Writers Workshop with
! Learn more about the day full of events here! Interested in being a vendor for the market? Click here to sign up!
I love the idea of a nap experiment! Sometimes I feel awful after a nap and it's more nourishing to move my body instead. I am going to start a journal and see what feels more supportive ❤️ xo Carla