The Power of Priorities

I started my central park program this week and the first thing I saw trucking up the grass were three boys from St. Thomas More Playgroup- cue the heartstrings. I’ll admit, it was bittersweet, especially when one of them asked with big, eager eyes: “Why aren’t you teaching us movement anymore? We miss you.”
I had to swallow a lump in my throat because the truth is, I miss them, too. But being a teacher, I saw the space of the moment, and jumped in. I got down on his level and asked if he’d ever had to make a decision. “Did you ever want to play soccer and go to the movies and have ice cream but you could only do one of those things? Sometimes we have to make a decision, even if it’s hard for us.”
He seemed satisfied and we had a wonderful lesson but the conversation served as a springboard for me—it made me really think about priorities.
So often in life we try to do everything, and do it well. We work, take care of our families, exercise our bodies, feed our stomachs, support our creative and artistic ambitions. One of my closest friends likes to say this: “sometimes, something’s gotta give.” I used to have a problem with that. It seemed to diminish my capability to lead an expansive, holistic life because the truth is, I CAN do everything and do it well. What I realized after class last week is that something giving doesn’t have to be about dropping the ball. It can be a conscious, thoughtful choice to prioritize.
Sometimes it’s not about doing a million things well but doing one thing well. More than that, even, it’s about doing one thing well and leaving space to do another thing well in the future. Sometimes we’re so focused on keeping all the balls in the air we forget to leave room to for improvement, for growth. We forget to leave room for our dreams to come in and take us to that next level.
Right now I’m missing creative movement so I’m prioritizing that in my life. Not as a job the way it looked before, but as an intention. I’m putting out there that I want to teach creative movement in a way that best supports my life, the one I’m currently living, growing with, and working on.
There are a lot of priorities in our lives and all of them are important. What I encourage you all to do this week is, just a little bit, prioritize space. Prioritize the unknown. Prioritize intention.
Set the space and watch what magic comes in to fill it,
Kate