Compassion Corner

A 2-Degree Shift: Reimagining Your To-Do List

What if a tiny shift in perspective could transform your entire day?

Picture this familiar scene: You look at your to-do list with hands stretched out in exasperation, eyes rolling, followed by that audible sigh of overwhelm. "All the things I NEED to do..."

Sound familiar, sister?

Now, imagine a 2-degree shift—subtle, but powerful:

"I'm glad I have a list of possibilities. Now I can choose what I do today."

Feel the Difference

Notice how your body responds to each statement. The first tightens your shoulders, clenches your jaw, steals your breath. The second? There's a lightness. A softness. Room to breathe.

This isn't just semantics—it's self-compassion in action.

From Burden to Choice

When we shift from "need to" to "choose to," something beautiful happens:

• Obligation becomes opportunity

• Pressure transforms into permission

• Burden shifts to blessing

You move from being driven by your list to being empowered by your choices. You acknowledge your limits with grace. You honor your energy and time as the finite gifts they are.

A Taste of the Light Yoke

Perhaps this is one small way we live out what Jesus meant when He said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Not that there's no work to do, but that we're not meant to carry it all with gritted teeth and white knuckles.

This mindset fosters gratitude for what you can do and releases the guilt about what you can't. It creates space for wisdom, for discernment, for the Holy Spirit to guide your priorities.

You Are Worthy of a Pause

Before you dive into your day, take a breath. Look at your list not as a taskmaster, but as a menu of possibilities. Ask yourself: What do I have time and energy for today?

Remember, “You are a human being, not a human doing.” Kurt Vonnegut

Keeping on Abiding,

~Carrie

www.abidinginthebetween.com