In today’s episode, Fable (Beth) and the Verbivore (Laura) revisit the themes they chose in episode 10 to capture their intentions for 2020, to see them in context after year end. They also prepare for 2021, by choosing some new themes to hold.

Laura’s 2020 phrase was stepping into the unknown, the idea of walking through the doors that were open even though she wasn’t sure what they’d hold. And the year definitely reflected this theme, but having that phrase in her mind allowed her to embrace and pivot through the uncertainty of the year. For 2021, she sees herself transitioning towards focusing on daily showing up, shutting down excuses, and doing the work set before her now that she has a better idea how her process looks.

Beth’s 2020 theme was into the woods and the idea that she would be needing to hold herself in balanced tension between different forces, as in a yoga pose. Throughout the year, she learned a lot about the balanced cycle and flow of her work - as with the tide. For 2021, she chose the phrase lean in, both for her writing and personal life. The idea of embracing curiosity and not withdrawing from the work, while also allowing her days to ebb and flow to fit what things are her’s to do on a given day.

We wish you a 2021 that holds some comfort, peace, relaxation, growth, excitement, overcoming fear, joy, and many opportunities for creating something new. We would love to hear if any of our listeners have any words or themes that they are holding onto for the new year!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

The Verbivore references the episodes that we did in late 2019/ early 2020 - one for setting goals and another for picking a word or phrase for the year. Here are the links to those episodes:

• https://fableandtheverbivore.com/podcast/episode-9-the-one-where-we-talk-about-goals-habits-and-the-new-year

• https://fableandtheverbivore.com/podcast/episode-10-choosing-a-word-for-the-year

The Verbivore mentions that we’re both HSPs. This is a psychological personality trait and stands for a highly sensitive person. It’s used to describe those who are thought to have an increased or deeper central nervous system sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli. Some refer to this as having sensory processing sensitivity, or SPS for short.

Books Mentioned:

• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

• Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way by Steven Pressfield

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)