Say you work for three months on a concert, only to fall ill the day before the performance…
Say you have plans to take a trip, only the night before you leave, a tragedy befalls a dear loved one and you must be there for them…
Say someone breaks a promise, doesn’t follow through, or leaves you hanging in a critical moment…
Say you committed to something, but then the time came and you just felt like you straight up didn’t want to anymore…
It’s okay to offer yourself grace in that moment.
This post has been brewing within me for a couple of weeks, since I missed the last weekly post.
So, I feel like talking about grace. But just what is that?
What does grace actually mean?
As a bonafide dictionary nerd, here you go, courtesy of Merriam Webster:
grace – noun
Honestly, grace has a lot of definitions so I’ll sum it up for you…
From divine assistance, to approval, privilege, favor, reprieve, charm, ease, or prayer…
Grace can be many different things.
But the kind of grace I’m talking about… is that where you honor and accept where you are in this exact moment so you can embrace what you need in that moment, and let that be okay. To face whatever moment you’re in with love and compassion, maybe even a higher perspective.
Because… life happens and the things we work or plan for don’t necessarily pan out the way we expect or want. Life has so many twists and turns that change and conflict stares us in the face probably more often than we’d like. And when that happens, the best thing you can do is offer yourself grace.
What else can you do, really?
Offer yourself the ease of accepting the moment as it is and moving with the information you have at that time, rather than trying to force an agenda that may or may not be right due to unforeseen circumstances or shifts in the wind.
I hope you offer yourself grace when things get hard, because sometimes facing difficulty is crippling, and just the fact of knowing it’s a challenge can be enough to deter anyone.
I hope you offer yourself grace when things shift on a dime without notice, upsetting plans and expectations.
I hope you offer yourself grace when sudden illness takes you off your planned track.
I hope you offer yourself grace when someone else seems to present a roadblock or gives you frustration.
And I hope you offer yourself grace even in the little moments where you question if the next step is the right one for you.
Grace is always there. And it wants to help you embrace where you are.
(Even if you think you should be doing something else… I know all creatives like to come up with anything else than to write their book. )
Because, in the grand scheme of things, what else is there to do than accept your present moment exactly as it is, no matter where it falls in your timeline?
It’s all about just being here now.
I feel like that’s one of the biggest lessons one can learn, and I think that’s definitely one of mine.
You’ve got your feet moving five feet behind while your mind runs three paces too fast… Instead, stop. Get your feet underneath you, take a breath, and land in your body, mind, and spirit now.