#FocusFridays: Dive In

I can’t believe that week two is over. All I can say is that I feel so happy I started the #30DaysofFocus project. It has grounded me, given me the motivation that I needed, and the structure to jolt my creative self back to life. While before I used to aimlessly use up my energy, looking for stuff to keep me busy and fill my time, I feel like my days are now beautifully built around my writing time, which is as it should be; since it is, and hopefully will continue to be, one of my main sources of joy. It’s something that anchors my day, and even though there’s still a thousand things to do during the day, I’m becoming more efficient and versed at cutting corners and figuring out what really matters. It’s almost like I’m learning how to consciously do process with a capital P, and it’s literally rewiring my brain.

The one article that stood out this week and filled me with satisfaction was the one about bilingual parenting. This is a topic I’ve been wanting to delve into since I embarked on my own personal journey more than two years ago. Learning about it opened the door on how to optimize it, planting seeds of awareness. It has also given me the insight as to what happens when we take the time and do a deep dive, double click, and really look deeply into things.

Before I started over two years ago, I knew that raising my daughter with two languages was important to me, but I never truly knew the amount of work it would entail. You can do it blindly, as I admit was my path until now, just kind of going with the flow. But relying on built-in guardrails and resources can help and potentially enrich the journey. Personally I’ve always preferred the go-with-the-flow methodology, but parenting in general has showed me real, tangible benefits of inviting more Process into my life. It really does help as a parent and especially when you’re juggling multiple projects. Simply put, life is a process. Process simplifies life.

I came across a passage on Brain Pickings about the legendary jazz musician Bill Evans that speaks to the process of tackling a creative problem. It’s about taking steps to move forward, which is exactly what I feel this project is helping me do. Hope you’re moving forward in your journey too.

“It is true of any subject that the person that succeeds in anything has the realistic viewpoint at the beginning and [knows] that the problem is large and that he has to take it a step at a time and that he has to enjoy the step-by-step learning procedure.”