Me to universe, January 1: OK, I’m ready for this. Let’s flow.
Universe, January 2: Ha. Let’s see if this girl is serious or not.
I announced my intention word for 2020 less than 48 hours ago — and on the second day of the new year, my commitment has already been tested.
The Best Laid Plans
I had a plan. I committed to #yogaeverydamnday for the month of January as part of my blogger bestie Meg’s #NoFoMommaYogi challenge. To make her challenge accessible to everyone, she follows Yoga By Adriene, who just started a new 30-day yoga series January 1. Perfect, right? We all watch the videos from home, do the yoga, and share our pictures online to encourage each other. It’s a little community of positivity and women supporting women.
I was in for this round. Except that, well, I’m me. And in my #NeverDoneWithFun way, I wanted to take the challenge up a notch. I started to scheme and plan to get to my local studio for a class every single day for 30 days. Because honestly, practicing yoga in my messy house, by myself, interrupted by my kids or my dog or my husband or my phone, just didn’t sound all that ZEN.
I love the practice of yoga for the namaste AF studio atmosphere — give me the heat, the darkness, the colored mood lighting, the blankets and bolsters, the mirrors and flameless candles, and PLEASE please, that cold lavender-lemon scented washcloth on my forehead for the final savasana.
So I planned to go all in on the 30 days of yoga challenge in my usual 1000%-committed manner (yes, that should say 1,000). I didn’t announce my intention publicly because I knew there were days when it could be a struggle. But I had looked at schedules and figured out that on Thursdays, #DoneWithFun Daddy could take his martial arts class and still get home just in time for me to slip out to an 8 pm restorative class.
Yesterday, on January 2, that restorative class sounded like exactly what I needed. It’s the end stretch of winter break, I’m expected to be back in the office, and it feels like the 5th Monday in a two-week period. I need alllllll the silence, darkness, and soothing essential oils.
I was in my yoga wear, getting the kids into pajamas, when I got a text from my husband. They changed the time on his class for the new year and he wouldn’t be home until after 8.
Just like that, my yoga studio streak was over before it started. You can’t make this shit up.
I was frustrated. I was annoyed. I frantically tried to figure out if there was any way I could get to that class tonight.
And then I realized: Flow. Going with it. 2020 intentions. This was exactly the situation I wrote about in my New Year’s post. I could choose to be angry … or I could choose to go with the flow instead and see what happened.
In the spirit of 2020 self-improvement (because day #2 is wayyy too early to concede defeat), I went with it.
Realigning Priorities
First, I got out my mat and popped on a Cosmic Kids Pokemon yoga with the boys. Just because I couldn’t go with my original plan didn’t mean I had to abandon the whole initiative. I could do a little at-home yoga with my kids in case it ended up being the only yoga I got in yesterday. It was silly and it was fun and I actually did get some good stretch in.
After getting the kids to bed, I had nothing left on my to-do list. So I dimmed the lights in my living room and turned on the Yoga By Adriene Day 0 and Day 1 videos.
I was floored to find the theme of the 30-day challenge is HOME, and the intention for Day 1’s practice was Recognize. You guys know I believe in signs, and here it was, on the second day of the new year, a sign to rethink my first month’s goals.
As I started to slow my breath on the mat, amid dinosaur toys and abandoned milk cups, with a French bulldog literally snuffling my face throughout, I recognized what my original goal was missing: Presence. I can be home. I can do yoga at home. I can be with my kids and my husband and my dog and I can still find flow.
So, second day of the new year, and I’m already adjusting my plan: I’m not going to put myself and my family through the stress of forcing myself to get to a studio yoga class every single day for 30 days. Making yoga stressful is the exact opposite of my 2020 intentions. Instead, I’m going to get to the studio as often as I can, and be grateful for my moments there — and for my husband who makes it happen.
But I’m also going to complete the 30-day Yoga By Adriene Home challenge with @nofomomma and her lovely group this month, because I am ready to come home. Home is where I need to be this year. Present. Slower pace. Nurturing my family, my marriage and my relationships with give-and-take instead of just take-take-take.
If the Day 1 practice is any indication, I think this 30-day journey could be just as powerful as the studio practice I envisioned. I hope it will lay the foundation of strength and discipline so that I can try a studio challenge later in 2020 — if I can find my flow at home first.
Keep following my journey here and on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. I hope you’ll find some ideas and inspiration for living your best life in 2020, whatever that looks like for you and yours.
Want in on the 30-day yoga challenge organized by my amazing friend Meg of NoFo Momma motherhood and lifestyle blog? Find her on Instagram and read this post for the details. It’s not too late to start!
