I loved this past week. I decluttered my room for at least 15 minutes every day; usually, as I chatted with friends or listened to audiobooks. I finished listening to The Alter Ego Effect and got started on Bird by Bird. I’d been meaning to make my room orderly for ages and am glad that I finally got around to it. It’s not fully done yet so I’ll continue to tidy it up for a few more days until it’s finished. It was fun to watch my mom go ‘whoa…!’ when she came into my room yesterday, haha. The thing is, my room has never been super disorganized. But some things were out of place and it was like having a pebble in the shoe. For example, I hadn’t unpacked a couple of boxes after I had moved into my grandparents’ place. It was very neatly organized but just looking at it sitting there had begun to grate on me.
Now that all that’s nicely tidied up, I’m working on my bookshelf. I’ll also reorganize my bedside table which has a couple of compartments. I plan to order an aroma diffuser and a bunch of oils to make the room extra nice.
Value for week #3
Vulnerability. This one leaves me feeling anxious and uncomfortable. Seems about right because Brene Brown describes vulnerability as, “uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure”. A bunch of things has come up for me recently which is making vulnerability almost a necessity. I feel like I’m in for a roller coaster of a week.
I started listening to Daring Greatly by Brene Brown yesterday, in honour of this value. I felt tears welling up and found myself getting all choked up within the first 15 minutes. A friend said, “Be ready for internal turbulence because that book is a heavy read.”
My plan is to ask myself every day, “how can I be vulnerable today?” and see where that leads. Today, I expressed to a close friend that I was hurt about something they’d done. I tend to conceal most of my emotional reactions that I perceive as negative and allow only positive emotions to show through. So this was definitely a new thing. It led to an emotionally open conversation between me and my friend which brought us a tiny bit closer.
I’m not going to assume that all vulnerability will lead to positive outcomes. Of course, it won’t. But that’s not the point anyway. The point is to learn to open my heart and be emotionally honest despite the risks. In other words, I’d like to embrace vulnerability and this week is about taking a conscious step in that direction.