What Happens When You Stop and Notice?
I caught myself the other day going straight from one thing to the next without really stopping.
I'd finish something, and my head would already be halfway into the next week, then the next month, then whatever else was sitting on the list.
Somehow I was somewhere else entirely and not even sure how I got there.
Does this sound familiar?
Image with thanks to Unsplash - Elisa Photography @elisamoldovan
So I started wondering what would happen if, now and then, I just stopped and asked myself: what have I been noticing lately?
Not what I've achieved or ticked off. Not even what I've learned.
Just what I've noticed - those little things that stick
It's often something small:
A conversation that stayed with me longer than I expected.
Something I read that made me pause.
A song that pulled up an old memory out of nowhere.
A walk that felt different, though I couldn't say why.
Sometimes it's the opposite:
Something that annoyed me far more than it should have
A comment that hit a nerve.
A feeling that keeps turning up, and I'm not sure I want it to.
I don't always know why these things affect me so much, and actually I've started to think I don't have to.
Sometimes noticing is enough because I think we look for answers too soon.
When we're unsure, we tend to go searching for answers:
Am I making the right decision?
What should I be doing next?
Does something need to change?
But I wonder if the clues are already there, in what we keep coming back to. The things we can't stop talking about. What gives us energy and what quietly wears us out. The times we feel most like ourselves, and the times we really don't.
Maybe none of that needs fixing right now. Maybe it's just asking to be seen.
Noticing what doesn't fit anymore
This one can be uncomfortable, but I think it matters just as much.
Some things that used to feel right stop feeling right. A routine, a commitment, the way you work, how you spend your time.
Sometimes it's a version of yourself you've been carrying around mostly because it's just familiar.
That doesn't mean something has gone wrong. People change and life changes, so what we need changes too.
Noticing that something doesn't fit is often the first step towards working out what might.
You don't need the answer straight away. It's okay to sit in the in-between for a bit and just say,
"This doesn't feel like me anymore," and leave it there.
It isn't all about what's not working. I think we get so used to looking for what needs improving that we walk straight past what's already good.
Maybe you've noticed you love having a slower morning.
That one friendship has become really important to you.
That being outdoors does more for you than you realised.
That you're at your happiest when you're making something.
That you don't actually want a busier life.
That you've started to quite like your own company.
That something you once thought was a big deal doesn't matter as much now.
Those things count too, possibly more than the rest, because they hint at the kind of life you actually want.
So, what have you been noticing?
You don't have to sit down for a deep chat with yourself. Make yourself a cup of tea and take a few minutes, and ask:
What's caught my attention lately?
What's been giving me energy?
What's been draining me?
What do I keep thinking about?
When have I felt most like myself?
Is there anything here I should pay a bit more attention to?
Don't worry about making sense of it all, and please don't turn it into another self-improvement project – this is just about noticing.
At Remember Rewrite Live, September has been about the things that shape how we see ourselves and the lives we build.
October goes somewhere a little different.
I've been thinking about what happens when we pay closer attention to what really matters to us, because I suspect a life that feels like your own starts long before the big decisions. It starts with noticing what lights you up, what feels off, what you miss, and what you keep drifting towards, even when you can't put it into words yet.
So before you rush into whatever's next, give yourself a minute to look around. Look at your life as it is today and ask yourself, gently: what have I been noticing lately?
You might be surprised by what comes up. And you don't have to do anything with it yet.
Just notice.
Remember. Rewrite. Live.
Live by design, not by default.
Next week: October Series Part 1
Identifying the values that are genuinely yours, rather than the ones you've inherited, adopted or feel you should have.