Structure leads to freedom, it’s what I discovered over the years. Too less, however, creates chaos and too much results in the loss of flexibility. Life is about balance and finding the right one for you personally can be quite a challenge.
Maintenance stuff
After my previous short break from creating new posts here @ my virtual home I was ready to publish lots of new articles and tools. And then my virtual home (this website) kind of broke down. Eleven years using and moving around WordPress, developing and maintaining blogs myself, I usually find the problem pretty quick. Not this time ; -(
Fortunately, I moved my virtual home to the Business Plan of WordPress in August 2020 and on several occasions the Happy Engineers of WP, part of this hosting plan, are always quickly available. The problem was, however, this time a bit more complex. Happy to report after three days chatting and adjusting some settings, my website is up and running again. Knock on wood and Yippee!
Lets Connect Together - Flexibility
This ordeal made me think about flexibility. I’m the kind of person you can wake up in the morning, give me time to shower, put me in a car and spontaneously drive to Paris or even to Spain. Of course, due to pandemic these kind of adventures aren’t possible at the moment. And honestly, nowadays I wouldn’t even go somewhere alone, if I couldn’t be back home within the same day.
Maybe, I am no longer that flexible as I thought I was. Over the years, I discovered that structure leads to freedom. It can prevent chaos, but at the same time, it can also lead to the loss of flexibility. Taking care of dogs, who thrive best on a daily structure, especially the domesticated ones (those who live as pets for us humans), I got quite accustomed to the daily structure my husband and I created for our life.
During my education becoming a master coach and multi-disciplinairy skilled helper the focus was also on inserting daily structure in the form of morning and evening routines. Meditation, journaling, exercise are some of the activities to do during those sections of the day. I do not question the benefits one can gain from these kind of routines, I did start to doubt the inflexibility of them.
What is right for you, does not have to be right for me.
And vice versa. To Connect to Life, to Others and to Yourself, the most important thing is to keep reflecting regularly upon the knowledge and practices you come across and check if it feels good to you personally, before applying it to your own life. That is what I did again last week myself and I realized, I gave up too much of my flexibility side. Personality-wise and in my life in general.
Although I still have a morning routine, it does not start seven days in a row at the same time. Taking care of the dogs is a must, as is having breakfast. Oh, and making sure my husband can start his workday on time : -) Everything else, during the first hours of the day, is open to what I believe needs to be done on the day itself. Making that adjustment created the balance between the structure and flexibility I personally need.
Maintaining my virtual home last week, I also went through this new section ‘Let’s Connect Together’. Started not that long ago, however, I noticed the inflexibility I created for myself. Within the life I live and all the interests I have, a fixed weekly topic or section is too structured to keep up. Two monthly recurring posts (the Skilled Helpers Collaborative and the Universal Human Rights posts) and the other topics randomly according to the time I have each week, that is the flexibility I was looking for.
Lets Connect Together - Flexibility
As you know, dear Beautiful Souls, I love to Connect. With the main issues here @ my virtual home solved, I will start visiting other websites and blogs again. Meanwhile, Lets Connect Together and let me know in the comment section below:
How flexible are you these days?
8 Responses
How beautiful writen and how much I read from my own live back in this blog about structure and flexibility.
In my working years I needed structure and lots of flexibility. Taking care of the houshold, making everythink ready so my husband could do his job and find his rest after his work. My duties started in the aftenoon and juring the wekends, so I was never home for diner together. I liked to study aswell. Therefor I needed not only the the flexibilitie and structure for my life together with my husband, but also for my work and dreams. My working hours wich changed constantly, depending how many people lived in the heathcare home I worked in. I also needed time to study and follow all the practical lessons juring weekends. To find the flexibility and structure between my work in healthcare and my study was the biggest challenge, because my husband always supported me. I survived only because of my strickt structural day scedual. At work they had to learn flexiibelty in making the working scedual, which was only possibile if I knew the dates of scooling far before. After 5 years study I started a second study and with 8 years I was ready to build my own practise next to my job, house keepinbg and work. I never left my job in the healthcare home because I loved what I did.
Now into our retirement my structural and flexibal wat of living has showed me what people are able to. The get much more time to rest, make their dreams come truh and have a good family life.
Hi dear Joyce! Thank you for compliment and adding a bit of your story regarding this topic. As always insightful and appreciated! Big hug, XxX
Ahhhh… ik las je eerste woorden en dacht: ja! Helemaal eens! En zonder dat ik websiteproblemen heb, ervaar ik op dit moment nog steeds een onbalans tussen structuur en flexibiliteit – in mijn hele leven, en op mijn blog. Tijd om weer eens een lijstje te gaan maken (ik ben een lijstjesmens), na te denken over wat ik nu écht belangrijk vind en wil prioriteren en hoe ik dat in mijn dagelijkse routines kan (en WIL) inpassen. Op dit moment heerst chaos (zo voelt het voor me – de dagen vliegen voorbij en aan het eind van zo’n dag denk ik vaak: wat heb ik nou eigenlijk gedaan?) en ik vind het toch wel fijn een klein beetje meer structuur (en DUS: vrijheid, ja) in mijn leven te creëren 🙂 Dank voor (wederom) de inspiratie, lieve Patty! XX
Hallo lieve Anuscka : -)
Is het niet een mooie gedachte dat wij die keuze mogen en dus kunnen maken over hoe we ons leven willen indelen? Ook ik ben een lijstjesmens en deze naast mijn kernwaarden leggen, helpt me meestal wel de prioriteit terug te vinden en dan dus ook de balans. Jij bedankt voor het verbonden blijven! Dikke knuffel, XxX
💜 Yup, it’s Fluid, Flexible Planning rather than Rigid, Inflexible Planning EveryOne; so Pay Attention for YOUR!!! Own Good
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Hi Yernasia, welcome @ my virtual home! And thank you for connecting 🙂 XxX
💜 YOU!!! ARE Most Welcome Patty and Thank YOU!!! for YOUR!!! Warm Welcome; it’s a Pleasure to Share and Serve, Stay Strong and Serene
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