I have a blue blanket that, at some point, I decided would be the “dog blanket.” Year after year, I picked it up off the floor, folded it neatly, and placed it back on the section of the couch my dogs had claimed. I did this multiple times a day, every day, for years.
Then one day, as I went through the familiar motions of folding and straightening, it hit me—what am I doing? Why am I doing this? The dogs didn’t care. They had no idea the blanket was “theirs.” Folding it and putting it neatly on the couch only for them to push it back onto the floor had become a pointless little game I was playing, over and over again.
We all have habits like this—things that made sense to us at one point but, over time, only add to our stress, frustration, or exhaustion. And yet, we keep repeating them, day after day, wondering why our lives feel stuck in the same patterns.
Now is the time to take inventory. How are you spending your time? What routines frustrate you? I once heard a quote that struck me deeply: “Even though we may not agree with something, by participating we are in agreement with it.”
So I’ll ask you: what are the things in your life that you don’t agree with, but still participate in?
Think of the hands on a clock. A tiny shift at the center creates a big movement at the edge. What is one small change you can make today that will point you in a new direction?