Spaciousness: Embracing the magic and mystery of the unknown

Featuring white space and my color-coded Google calendar

Photo by Fiona Murray-deGraaff on Unsplash

I am leaning into a new word this year, into a version of myself that is the hardest to embrace fully.

Whenever we talk about productivity, my Google Calendar gets a lot of laughs and horrified looks. It may seem over the top to a lot of people—color-coded and time-blocked, all the way down to meals. But it’s a system that I have worked so hard to refine through the years. It’s the system that got me out of the despair of never having enough time to write for myself. It’s the system that taught me to prioritize writing over everything else—instead of giving a huge chunk of the day when I am most creative (mornings) to menial tasks like admin work.

How my Google Calendar looks on weekdays

As an ISTJ, one of the most time-rigid personality types, setups like this make me thrive. They guide me along so I don’t spend endless hours so wrapped up in a task that I forget other tasks. They help me manage my time for other things (like client work), so I can still have time for myself and my other personal projects.

BUT—and this is where the adventure and the discomfort both lie—sometimes, you need a little bit of spontaneity for magic to work and for creativity to spread its wings.

Hence, my word for the year: 留白 (liúbái).

It’s the concept of spaciousness. Of leaving white space for miracles to happen.

You see this most in traditional Chinese art forms, where white space emphasizes the subject or leaves the viewer to fill in the blank with their imagination.

Photo by The Cleveland Museum of Art on Unsplash

White space. Spaciousness. The room for creativity so spread its wings unbidden. Less rigidity for more miracles and magic. I think I need more of this—no, I know I need more of this. Yes, I can still set time blocks around my workdays to ensure I’m able to get the work done. To help me thrive by protecting my writing schedule (something I also learned this year), making sure it is the center of everything I do, instead of leaving it as an afterthought. But I can also welcome interruption and the magic and creativity that come with doing things that are out of your usual flow.

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Incorporating spaciousness requires a lot of conscious thought and solid decision-making because it’s not something I’m used to yet.

Here’s how I’m trying to implement it in the coming year:

By being less rigid with my own schedule.

When I woke up on the first day of the new year, my first thought was Wow, it’s a lot later than I thought. And my second thought was: How can I adjust my time to fit all that I need to do today? How should I block my time with the tasks I have in mind?

See? It’s almost instinct for me. But then I remembered that I said I would embrace spaciousness, see what flow looked like if I let it dictate my day. I wrote a bit, rested a lot (our previous days had been extremely busy, and caught up on some journal pages.

By welcoming spontaneity and interruptions.

I adore schedules (hence why time blocking works for me), but hate sudden changes or spontaneity. I try to be as flexible as I can, but it can be frustrating when I’m doing something and my work gets interrupted (unless you are my two adorable nieces).

But this year, I want to welcome those interruptions with a broader mindset and a better attitude instead of seeing them as a hindrance to whatever I’m currently working on.

By making rest a choice.

Sometime last week, I found myself seated on the bench of an outdoor mall area. I had a bad cold and wanted to step away from the cold air conditioning for a while (the rest of my family and relatives were still doing their shopping). I went to the open park area that also served as a playground for children. It was nice outside—it was cloudy, and the wind was cool. All around the perimeter of the open park area were tables and chairs that the mall had probably set up, so people could talk or eat or work.

The temptation to open my laptop (which I had with me) was so strong. I thought I could get some words in or continue organizing the spreadsheet for a friend whose wedding I am organizing.

But the weather was so beautiful, the wind so soft. And a little voice at the back of my head saying, You wanted to embrace spaciousness this year. So I did nothing. I just sat back and watched the people all around me.

By scheduling no-schedule days.

This fills me with a bit of anxiety and trepidation, but why not?

Instead of planning my life down to the meals and the minute details, I can leave some room for creativity to flow and lead me. For example, instead of blocking time for specific writing tasks, I can just say I’ll write for an entire afternoon and see where that leads me. Or—even yet more terrifying—I can schedule nothing at all and let inspiration take my hand.

In one of the prompts we had for Memoir Nation’s JanYourStory challenge, we were asked to think out of the box and write a scene of our story in a different genre. It felt a little awkward at first, but once I started writing, I could feel the creativity guiding my fingers across my keyboard. I also wrote more that day than on any other day. Maybe sometimes, we really do need to break away from routine, to do the unexpected, to let ourselves loose.

By working from other spaces.

I used to say that my best work is done at home, but these days, I realize that that may not always be the case. I read a little about my personal human design, and it says I thrive where there is ambient noise and energy bouncing off other people who are also working.

And I’ve noticed that I tend to get a lot more writing done when I work in coffee shops. Or when I’m at a friend’s or relative’s house. Somehow, I’m able to get more drafts in, I feel more confident about posting on social media, I get more excited about what I’m doing. My sister says it’s because I’m the type of person who needs to feel other positive vibes. I thrive when I’m at a place where other people are equally passionate about what they do and love. Of course, I can’t tell if the person sipping her cafe latte beside me loves her job, but maybe the way she bops her head to the music in her earphones is enough to tell me she enjoys what she’s doing. And if not, there’s just the magic of being somewhere.

By embracing the unknown and what it may lead to.

I have a lot of plans for the coming years. Plans to support or give wings to my delusional dreams. I have a rough sketch of what I want to happen and some little goals to help me achieve them—or at least, prepare me for them. But I also know that things may turn out differently from how I plan or envision them to.

Regardless of what happens, I want to be flexible enough to recognize when an opportunity is in front of me, and I should grab it—even if it isn’t in my original plans.

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The point is this: to let everyday magic seep into my life.

The point is to loosen my grasp on the things I want to control. To leave room for surprises to happen, to catch me unawares, to make this year the best one yet. The point is to embrace magic and the extraordinary in my everyday, ordinary life.

And it’s something I’m inviting you to do, too. Our lives are filled with hustling, with hopping from one meeting to the next, with deadlines that are fast approaching, and an ever-growing list of things to do. It can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Insert spaciousness into your life and see how it unfolds. Watch the magic and creativity weave itself in places where you least expected it, and watch how it challenges and changes you in ways beyond your imagination.