We are 15 days into the new year, and I’ve already found my mantra for 2021:
“The only way to do it, is to do it.”
This quote from Merce Cunningham has been on my mind often in the last two weeks ….
- When I sat down to write lesson plans, and got caught in a flashback to January 2020. I thought about how much had changed in the last year, and reckoned with the fact that we truly do not know what the future holds for ourselves and our students. How can you plan for such an uncertain year?…
- When I FINALLY cleaned the mountain of crushed up goldfish, dirty socks, fruit snacks wrappers, and no less than 6 construction vehicles out of my car after putting it off for at least 2 months. How do you tackle the mundane tasks of life when current events are anything but mundane?…
- When I took a deep breath, turned on the camera and filmed my first #ChoreographyAdventure of the year in my messy living room, filled with hope that perhaps, this year, we’d be able to perform on real stages for live audiences again. How do you stay hopeful when the odds feel stacked against you?…
- When I took a look around that messy living room, and decided that I could put off the daunting task of organizing the kids’ toys no longer. How do you make yourself start a new project when the world is full of so many distractions?…
As Merce put it, “The only way to do it, is to do it.”
I’m a planner. I spent much of December thinking about my goals for the New Year. Heck, I wrote a blog post about goals (read it here) AND created a new resource to help you reach yours. (You can get it free by signing up for my mailing list, BTW!) I laid out my ideal work schedule, ordered all of the organizational supplies, and created tons of to-do lists. I thought long and hard about the lesson plans, the clean car and organized playroom, the ambitious creative projects I wanted to tackle. But when the calendar finally changed and it was time to implement those goals … despite all my planning, I felt in over my head. It’s easy – even fun – to make plans for the future. But how does one muster the courage to put those plans into action, especially in a year filled with so much uncertainty?
Then, I heard Merce’s voice in my head (or at least what I recall of it from films): “The only way to do it, is to do it.”
And so I did just that – I made myself do it. Clean the car, plan the lessons, create the choreography, organize the toys, write the blog post. Sometimes, that act of doing it is – to reference my husband’s new favorite show – “The Way.” (Who else has come home from work late on a Friday night to find their partner passed out in bed with The Mandalorian credits rolling? It can’t just be me!). We can plan all we want, but those plans will never come to fruition unless we Just Do It (insert “swish” here).
We can do it, even if it’s not quite what we expected, or even if we don’t know we were expecting, anyway. Even if we’re over our two-week trial period of 2021 and want to cancel our subscription. Even if we’re a little scared or a whole lot unsure. Even if we made it through the last quarter of 2020 without cleaning out our car, and are quite certain we could make it through most of the new year with the Goldfish and dirty socks in the back seat, too, thank you very much. Just do it, and let’s see how good it feels to see your plans come to life.
So whatever it is you have to – or want to – do this year, I wish you the strength, courage, grit, and guts to do it.
