Showing up

I've hardly written any blog posts this year.  Maybe you noticed. Maybe you didn't.  Its been on my mind a lot and I've thought of different reasons about why I haven't: taking a break; don't know what direction I'm going; what should I write about; I need to change things up somewhat, etc.

But the real reason is because life has changed this year.   Last August I wrote a blog post about the Prochaska stages of change.  Knowing the different stages can help you recognize why you haven't quite got where you want to be.

Here's a reminder of the 6 stages:

1. Pre-contemplation - no intention to change in the unforeseeable future
2. Contemplation - seriously thinking of change; some ambivalence
3. Preparation - intending to act in the next month; reduced ambivalence and exploration of options
4. Action - taking action through modification of behavior, experiences and environment
5. Maintenance - work to prevent relapse and consolidate gain
6. Relapse - a recurrence of the undesired behavior or elimination of a desired behavior.

Looking at the stages, since January I've definitely been in action mode.  There was no thinking about it. That was all done last year. Its all action stations. But its not been easy to modify my environment and behavior and decide what I can keep doing and what I can't do.

The two big changes this year are that I've gone back to studying and am doing another Master's degree program in Personalised Nutrition.  Also, I've started working for Ceres in Sonoma as their client manager.  I've been a volunteer liaison for Ceres in Sebastopol for 3 years now and they've just started their own satellite office in Sonoma. Its a lovely role to take on but the reality is quite different from my expectation.

The studying in particular is taking up much more time than I imagined.  So there are lots of adjustments.

But I've missed my blog and missed it as a way of connecting with you.  So I'm going to try the "showing up"  tactic for a while and see how it goes.   I remember when I first started blogging for my jewelry business in 2008….. I had no idea about blogging  and how to start, but I just showed up and tried to write.  That's where I am again now.  I'm going to try showing up more often again and see where it takes us.

What about you?  Is there something that you are trying by just committing to showing up?  Let me know and we can support each other.