I’m so happy to have you joining me for this episode! If you’re listening to this when it releases then, for me right now it is currently winter and we’re headed into the holiday season.

The Word “Still”

Each December, I  come up with a list of 30 fairly generic prompts that really anybody could take and use or I could use again. And as I was coming up with one what came to me was the word “still”.

That arose out of me looking forward to the stillness and quiet of the snow and the season. Having less of a schedule, fewer places that I have to be and more stillness for my own thoughts, my own family, the presentness of this time of year.

Immediately on the tail of that thought came to me the fact that I much more often hear the word “still” used in a very different way.

Originally I pondered the adjective, meaning deep silence; calm; not moving or making a sound; stillness. More often, though I hear it come from the ambitious and distracted multi-planner person as an adverb: meaning even now as formerly; all the same.

And if you’re like many women I connect with it sounds like: “I’m still doing the same thing.” “I still haven’t completed this project. “I still have the dream that I haven’t followed through on”

While the way that we use the word still in these two in these two ways are different, I realized that they are also very the same.

When we talk about “I’m still procrastinating on this”, or “I still haven’t started this project that I said is important to me.” What we’re saying beneath it is that I’ve been still. I’ve not moved from this same place. There has been no movement, it’s really around the idea is even now is the same as before – there has been no change.

We continue with what we think a full sentence.. “I’m still not following through.” “I’m still thinking about this project.” “I’m still planning out what the best way is to move forward on this” and when we get right down to it I think that we can also take off that last piece of the sentence, and it means the same thing – I’m still.

What Happens When You’re Still

If you’re still then your project is incomplete. If you’re still then your dream lays in wait. Because you are still and that means you aren’t taking action. The stillness is non-movement.

There is beauty in the quietness on non-movement in stillness. Sometimes we crave, not bustling, not hustling, like the stillness of a winter’s evening and the peacefulness that comes with it. 

When we think about when we’re still in the same place, not moving it doesn’t bring up that same peaceful emotion does it?  I’m going to come back to this… let’s put a pin in this idea for now.

The Opposite of Still

The only thing to get you out of being still is movement.

Now, I MUST preface this part by emphasizing that I’m NOT saying that you have to move. Unlike other productivity advice I’m not going to argue this. In fact I see being still is incredibly productive and valuable for a number of different reasons and in a number of different ways. One example is simply biology you can’t be going all the time, in order to sustain your body you have to be still some of the time. Just part of life.

You absolutely have the option to sit in the stillness, to sit with being “still.. whatever” AND to be okay with that, to bring the same sense of peace that comes with not moving all the time to your “still”.

Often I see people jump really quickly into judgment like, “well, if I haven’t take any action now, that’s no good…. I have to do something because I’m still in this spot.”

That’s just not the case. There is absolutely an option, and a choice can be made to revel and relish in this time and experience of non movement. It is a perfectly legitimate and sometimes (actually often) a necessary choice to make for a variety of reasons. It’s critical to give yourself the space, give permission to not always have to be in action, to give yourself the sacredness that comes with being still.

Reducing Judgement of Still

Let’s jump back to that earlier pinned idea that when people think of “still being in the same place” it doesn’t have the same energetic peace of still, as in calm and quiet. It can when you remove the judgement. “I’m still…blah blah” means that you expected to be somewhere else by now.

If I say “My son still lives at home” what do you think when I tell you he’s 25? What if I tell you he’s 12. What changes when I change the age? What probably changes is your expectation of whether or not he “should” be living at home or not.

When you add a still you’re adding a judgement that’s not where you should be. You believe you should be somewhere that you’re not. 

If you choose to stay in the still I encourage you to come to peace with that, release where you think you should be and instead accept with grace that here is exactly where you are.

Ready to Move?

When the stillness reaches a satisfactory space. When you no longer be “still waiting” or “still not started” is to move. The opposite of still is movement.

Moving out of being “still whatever” can take a lot of different things. Moving with the least amount of friction and the best results takes a lot of quality ingredients. And that is exactly what I’m going to be offering in the new year – all the ingredients that are necessary to move out of “still being in the same place” to starting to take action. That is going to be released in the new year.

If you want to be the first to know about what this is going to look like then you want to be the first to jump on the waiting list. Go to web amandajane.ca/actiontakersclub and sign up.

In 2022 I’m moving out of still and creating new things out in the world and taking my ideas and sharing them with you and I’m taking action to support others to take action. It feels delightful and aligned and it feels like it’s time and it feels exciting. Because when we’re not still we’re moving and changing and that’s exciting.