Making Room For What You Love + My May Day Adventure

Since I was a little girl I’ve been fascinated with May Day.

The joyful celebration of springtime and the coming of sweet summer with flowers and random acts of kindness has always made me smile. (If you are not familiar with May Day you can learn more about the history across different cultures here.)

For years I have fantasized about having my own May Day adventure but never made it happen.

This year, in celebration of my own “Making Room to Bloom” process and a desire to create more space for what (and who) I love, I decided to celebrate May Day exactly the way I have always wanted.

The result was a day more magical and nourishing than I ever imagined.

Here is what happened….

I secretly blocked off the whole day – when my friends tried to schedule coffee dates, I smugly announced that I was busy.

I did a little work the night before, visiting my favorite florist and bringing home a bounty of gorgeous florals that met three requirements: beautiful, bright, and fragrant (the lilac in and of itself checks all those boxes!)

I made cryptic name tags that would leave my girlfriends guessing.

I jumped out of bed on May 1st at 6am and started arranging bouquets in my kitchen. I was worried it might take forever and that I’d be short on time for my deliveries. Turns out, when you’re doing what you love (and yes, I LOVE arranging flowers!) things go pretty quickly! I was out the door by 8am.

With 20 vases piled into the back of my car, Parisian tunes lilting through the speakers and GPS leading the way, I was off!

Oh and I forgot to mention… it was an 80 degree day in San Francisco! If you know San Francisco, heat like this IS EXTREMELY rare…but it allowed my to fully manifest my vision of frolicking around in a sundress. Loved it!

I drove all around town visiting the doorsteps of my dear ladyfriends.

Now, this tradition was developed in the days of tiny mountain villages – not limited downtown parking and condo buildings with locked entrances. I had to get a little crafty. I made friends with security guards, jumped a fence and even had to disguise my voice (I used my best British accent, of course!) and said “Delivery for you. Could you come down and sign for it?”

To say that my day was fun, playful, and full of beauty is an understatement. I had the best day ever!

Plus the realizations I had when I got home were amazing and are what brought the whole experience come full circle.  My day of floral-filled shenanigans truly reflected my decision to make room for what I love.

Here’s what I learned:

1.  Busy-ness can be a form of hiding – from ourselves, from our loved ones, from the world

After all the fun I had, I couldn’t believe it had taken me so many years to do something so simple and joyful. Each year, as April wound down, I’d tell myself that I was too busy to make my silly, sweet May Day plan happen. But if I’m really being honest with myself (and you) I was afraid to be my big, bold, generous, loving self. Would people reject me? See me as being too much? Too “over the top”?  Would they question my motives? So many of us shy away from who we truly are and what we truly want for fear that others won’t understand or love us anymore.

2.  Celebration is important (and there’s always a reason for it!)

The act of celebrating is such an amazing gift.  Celebration is deeply rooted in acknowledgment, validation, honor, tribute – something so many of us are starved for in our day-to-day lives. We’re  constantly moving from one thing to the next, never pausing to shine light on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going.

Celebration helps us see, reflect, and connect. – Click to Tweet

It gives us permission to fully express our love. If you look long enough there is almost always a reason to celebrate. Try it. What and who needs celebrating in your life? (Don’t forget yourself!)

3. Generosity from a place of self love ripples out in amazing ways

My May Day adventure was as much about me as it was about the women I love.  It was a day about nourishing myself with my love of flowers and clearing space in my schedule to create a beautiful experience for everyone involved. It was a practice of being generous from a self-loving place.

What amazed me most, was how inspired and touched my friends were and how their inspiration went on to touch so many other people. It still gives me goosebumps!  Check out some of the sweet Instagram posts my friends posted as they were trying to solve the mystery of the “May Day fairy”:

One of my favorite reflections was a friend who said ”I was so energized when I found the flowers on my door step. It was such an interesting thing to receive but not know who it was from. Naturally, I wanted to say thank you but because I couldn’t, it just sparked this sense of pure joy in me and from this place of self joy I was moved to give to others.” Amazing!

All in all my May Day adventure filled my heart with more love then I ever imagined. It’s a day I will always remember and I’m already inspired, planning and potting for the future.

My Challenge for you!

How can you make room for what you love and take action around it? I challenge you to block off a whole day, make a plan to do something that you’ve been longing for – something that will light you up on the inside.  It can include other people or be solely for yourself. It doesn’t matter!

Just take action and in the comments below I would love to hear what you are planning to do!

Sending Love,                                                                                                                         Rebecca

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