Well! April certainly was… a Month, with a capital M, wasn’t it? I hope all of you lovely folks reading this are safe and well!

I’ve found myself trying to stay light and positive on my Instagram captions and Stories, but these blog posts are inherently more serious, and a little more vulnerable. It’s funny to change my tone in a way that feels so drastic here, but the intention of Unfolding the Year was always to be a place to investigate how our feelings, moods, and realities affect our productivity. So perhaps it’s not surprising that these feel so different to write than an Instagram caption, after all! Still, I appreciate you being here, whether you want the escapism of minimal planning photos or are interested in digging a little deeper here on the blog with me.

How was diving into April’s theme of the Grey Area for you?

Personally, I found it exactly the right reminder this month. I mostly was alright with my productivity – especially once I started timeblocking my work from home sessions! – but was varyingly successful at certain times of being patient with myself and others.

I’ve been meditating every single morning, weather permitting, going up to the roof of my apartment building since we can’t take many walks here in New York City at the moment, and basking in sunlight for a quick 10-minute Headspace session. Those breathing exercises have really helped me ‘breathe into’ the Grey Area, because this is nothing if not a time of extreme cognitive dissonance. For those of us lucky enough to work from home, to have a job, we can hold those feelings of gratitude even as we struggle with adjusting to working this way. This is hard in so many ways and for so many people, and finding joy in little things sometimes feels weird and wrong, yet we have to do those things where we can. For me that’s been mask-laden walks in the park under cherry blossom and magnolia trees, donating to as many causes and small businesses as possible, and doing daily workouts (something I have literally never done in my life!?).

I am really grateful for these little reminders to slow down, live in the grey area where two conflicting ideas can exist at once, and just hold these concepts in my mind right now. And I am so extremely grateful to everyone who is keeping my beloved city of New York and the world running while we all do the right thing by staying in and staying safe.

I hope these concepts can also give you a little bit of (albeit perhaps paradoxical!) motivation at this time! I’d love to hear how this concept has been working for you. Was it challenging? Fruitful? Both? Let me know in the comments!