This year’s spring theme of “Movement” was a WHIRLWIND. Here’s a review and a reminder to start thinking about a summer theme.
As I mentioned in my winter review, “Movement” was pushing me ahead into buying a home, which I did, and the theme carried me along through the entire process and all its associated chaos. However, this season’s experience gave me a new insight about this whole theme process altogether…
When I was at the point of picking between two condos, and neither of them was perfect (which is, of course, reality), someone expressed worried that I was feeling pressured to make a decision too fast, and pointed out that I had until the end of the year before I had to move. Why not keep looking until I found something perfect?
Other than practical answers like the market heating up and interest rates about to rise, my primary reason for moving head was, well, because spring’s theme was Movement! And I did pick a place and I am in LOVE with it, and I’ve adapted to its imperfections like I would have with any other place I’d gotten.
But let’s say that instead of Movement, my spring theme was something else? What if I’d picked something like “Caution” or “Detail” or “Slow Down?” Would I have done something different? Probably! I probably would have been more steady and slow and kept looking throughout the summer and possibly would have picked something entirely different maybe in an entirely different place with entirely different pros and cons.
So which one was the right choice?
Well, as the wise folks say, there’s no such thing as right or wrong decisions, only informed decisions and uninformed decisions. We have this thing that society has drilled into us (at least, modern American society) that gets us to assign value judgements to things that don’t need them. Choosing to buy a place now vs choosing to buy a place later: these choices have no inherent value.
And I think this illustrates something about this Themes exercise that people can miss (even though CGP Grey literally addresses it in the video). These are not goals. The point of this exercise is not to ACHIEVE something. The point is to MODIFY YOUR BEHAVIOR. I wanted more movement in my life, I chose that theme, it influenced my decision making process, and as a result I own a home now. This is not “success,” this is just the output of my behavior modification.
And, as I mentioned earlier, it is not inherently better or worse. It’s just a behavior change and the results improved my life in a particular way.
So, if you are encouraged to try out seasonal themes, think: What’s something I want more of in my life? What’s something I want less of? Not better, not worse.
Meanwhile, for summer I’ve chosen “Joy.” I’ve done a lot in the past few seasons, and now I just want to sit back and enjoy everything, and summer in the Pacific Northwest is a perfect time to do that!