A few weeks ago I did a Facebook Live video, and as soon as people started responding I deleted the video. Now, I try not to have any regrets as I believe that whatever choice I make at a certain point is a good choice (for whatever unknown reason at the time), and I reserve the right to change my mind and choose differently at a later stage. But even with having that as one of my life motto's, I kind of want to change my mind now and have the video back, but I can’t. Had I not deleted the video, then I could have had many very interesting conversations!

Let me explain what happened...

It was early on a Sunday morning and I was out for a walk with the pup. It was raining when I left home but the further I got up the hill, the more it turned into snow. I was the first to park at the bottom of the hill, and it was a magical experience walking in the snow, putting down the first foot (and paw) prints on all the paths.

I was deep in thought. The day before something has happened that I found quite upsetting, and it did me the world of good to be out in the snow and wind, to be moving and get fresh air and space. I know that walking is one way for me to clear my thoughts, to look after myself, to find peace in a difficult situation. And I was wondering what other people do in situations that they find hard too so I decided to do a Facebook Live, to both share the magical snowy surroundings I had found myself in so unexpectedly, as well as to encourage people to think about necessary self-care.

I didn’t share in my video what had happened the previous day, but just that something had happened and that I was looking after myself by being up on the hill for a good sturdy walk. I invited people to comment with what their coping mechanism are, to inspire me and others to maybe try something new, or to make people think about what they could do if they don’t really have a good idea of how they make sure they look after themselves.

It didn’t take long before I started getting some private messages, asking me if I was okay and what had happened. People started commenting on my video, but not in ways I had envisaged. Instead of people sharing what they do to cope, they wished me well, said that they were thinking about me, hoping I was okay... and I panicked. Because I was very okay, and it became clear to me that my video was not perceived the way I had intended it. I deleted the video.

I’ve been thinking about this ever since. There are quite a few very interesting things to say about what I think happened that morning so I thought I would share my thoughts with you in a few blog posts. Keep your eye out for the next ‘The Wise Learner’ installment; there will be a few in the next month or so.

In the meantime, I invite you to think about one thing you could do for yourself today: something nice, something you deserve, something that makes your day better, and please do comment below what this one thing is and inspire us all.

If you haven’t got any ideas of what that one nice thing could be, I’d suggest that you start with closing your eyes, and just taking one deep, slow breath and see if it makes you feel any different...

Have a great day, and make it a good one (or a bit better if you can)!

Renny