Lean in!

Lean in! Sheryl Sandberg popularized this expression as the title of her 2013 book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, encouraging women to embrace challenge and risk in the workplace. Lean into it, she advised. It has become a business buzz phrase, challenging the ever popular “thinking outside the box” mantra as the most quoted business motto. Who hasn’t been challenged to think outside the box?

What if you have never explored the inside of the box? Suppose leaning in meant leaning inward, exploring inner self and traveling avenues of self-care? These questions represent my version of leaning in … introspection, rumination and self –examination.

I have been missing in action from the WhipCity Wordsmiths for some time now because I have let life run me ragged. I have over extended myself to serve others, which I love to do, but I’ve forgotten to serve myself too! I have allowed my physical, emotional and psychological foundation to crumble at the edges, obscuring my outlook on the world. So, I’ve taken some time to lean in, to self-access and closely examine my priorities and goals in life, an immersion in self-care.

This immersion inside the box has yielded some remarkable insights and opportunities. I have decided to step away from my role as President and board member of the Friends of the Westfield Athenaeum. The Friends group is a great organization that supports a wonderful institution but took up an inordinate amount of my personal time.

I have decided to deepen my yoga practice, expand my immersion into the arts and culture in Westfield, express myself more freely and openly through writing and explore more engaging, inspiring and rewarding employment. I will seek ways to improve my health through more consistent exercise and life style changes in my relationship with food and nutrition. I will spend more time in nature and explore all she has to offer.

  

I will breathe. I will observe my thinking rather than react to it … thoughts are not facts after all! Thoughts are a river of emotions and feelings best observed rather than a source of inspiration for evocative reaction.

I will allow myself to be inspired. I will allow my inner child to express himself more often, to inspire a playfulness that is often lost in the hectic pace of a demanding, encroaching and suffocating digital world. I will explore self-confidence and self-awareness. I will consider what is most important to me. I will not be selfish, egocentric or self-obsessed but I will give my needs equal consideration.

  

I will lean in.