August is Alignment
What is alignment?
Alignment is a nebulous word that can have many meanings. To me, alignment means living the way I want to live, according to my values and priorities. I believe my physical and mental health is important. Thus, living in alignment for me looks like behaviors that match the belief that physical and mental health is important. This looks like going to therapy, regular doctors appointments, exercise, eating healthy and whole foods, etc. In my mind, alignment also means balance. While physical and mental health is important to me, I must balance that with my other priorities. It would benefit my physical health to have a personal trainer, a meal prep service, and a holistic health service provider – services that cost over $200 per month each. However, I have chosen not to adopt those ideas because I also am working on paying off debt and saving money. Balance. There is no perfect balance of everything, only choices. We cannot possibly do all the things that would benefit us, help us achieve goals, care for others, change the world, and meet society’s expectations. Each person’s individual choices determine how all these priorities are balanced.
Some of you may have “alignment exhaustion.” There has been a huge rise in wellness trends emphasizing things like: alignment, balance, self-care, healing, centering, equanimity, nervous system regulation, toxic positivity, emotional regulation, etc. When you are tired of all these words that are meant to be “fixes” for our problems, I call it “alignment exhaustion.” Journaling will not change my terrible boss. Meditation will not teach my kids to stop hitting each other. Getting a massage will not fix my budget problems. Those feelings are valid! We cannot “self-care” our way to a better life when we have too much to do and the system is not helping. I hear you.
If you want to skip this month’s blog posts because that is in alignment for you (haha), then do it. If you are open to it, read my simple approaches to living in alignment. Take what is helpful to you and leave the rest.
