Settling Into Your Own Skin

The feeling that you’ve been living in your body a long time, and sometimes you drop in and really feel your feet grounded to the earth. Other times you feel like you are floating, detached, watching yourself, watching your life happen to you with the ebb and flow, the macro and micro-moments. There is the feeling of being comfortable with who you are and what you bring to the table, but wanting to learn more. Being content with what you have earned and been given, and also with what has been removed, either by the universe or your own choice.

Sometimes a moment is upon you to settle. To take stock; to do some accounting.

Some define “settle” as a giving up or passively accepting a less than optimal set of circumstances, but I believe you can also think of it as watching your personal tectonic plates slide into place, creating the beautiful, robust and majestic mountain that is you. Settling can also mean reaching an agreement or paying a bill, or even marrying or partnering up to secure “permanence.”

Here’s the thing:, the world and life don’t always play fair. The rules, boundaries, finish line, and even your heart are constantly shifting. But once in a while (if only for a brief moment) you can stand tall, settle into who you are and what you believe, who you love and how you love and what you are grateful for, by and for yourself. Those moments give you the strength to carry on and support you when the ice under your feet starts to crack again. When that shift happens, ready or not, you then have that foundation to carry you forward; to run like hell or cross your arms in defiance and say “bring it the f*ck on.”

Either way, settling in for a long night in your skin — in the moment of a moment — is sometimes exactly what we need.

For someone who is usually in motion, settling into this body, this life, every once in a while for that settling feels right.