What is Capacity?
According to a quick Google search, capacity is the maximum amount that something can contain.
The problem with this definition is that I am not a thing and I only have two arms, so my capacity to hold is limited. Yet, people say my capacity is huge. What they mean is that I do a lot. I admit, I’m kind of driven. For those of you who don’t know me, I am a planner, a doer, a goal setter, a list maker. I have a tendency to juggle, drop balls and then juggle some more.
Cap sun/Virgo rising, thank you very much.
For instance, right now, I work full time, finishing up a degree in English Lit and Creative Writing, on the Library Board for my little town, a Firewise USA Coordinator, (also for my little town), and active in the grange. In addition, I am rebranding and reigniting my writing career. I also garden, can, bake sourdough and soup for neighbors and am helping my husband remodel our 1910 bungalow. I don’t say this to brag about myself, but to talk about capacity and how and why mine has grown over the years—without the chronic anxiety that I used to get. Oh, sure, I still get overwhelmed, but I am so much more centered and relaxed. Busyness is not the answer.
Alignment is.
So that’s the first secret of growing your capacity. Knowing who you are and what activities align with your core belief system. I recently did an activity with my writing coach that asked a simple question:
What do you do and why do you do it?
1. I build community because I believe that is the only way to create a better world for my grandchildren and ALL the grandchildren of the world. That’s why I am on the library board, am active in the grange, and started Firewise.
2. I move, track my food and cook mostly from scratch because I believe that health fundamental. This is also why I garden, preserve food and share good food with my neighbors and community.
3. Continuing education is important to me because it is a way to keep my brain active, go deeper into my craft (writing) and positively impact the world. This is why I returned to school, am working with a writing mentor and take workshops on everything from money management to publishing to community building.
Aligning my beliefs with my behavior is one way that I stretch my capacity. It doesn’t feel like work, it feels like my life. Sure, I get stressed… Last week, I almost missed a deadline for an important grant. It took a lot of phone calls to gather the materials that I needed. I needed some serious down time after that!
So the first thing is to figure out what you value and then let your activities arise out of those values. After that, I honestly believe the sky is the limit… with the right tools and I will write about those in the next post!
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