I Am The Sky

This morning, when I opened my meditation app, I read a quote from Pema Chödrön:

“You are the sky. Everything else is just weather.”

It stopped me.

Not because it was dramatic. Because it was true.

Lately I have been working to create a new relationship with my role at work. I am transitioning from full time to part time, and with that shift comes something deeper than a schedule change. It feels like an identity shift.

For so many years, my work has been a central pillar of my life. It has shaped my days, my conversations, my sense of contribution. It has given me structure, responsibility, and purpose. And I am proud of the way I have shown up.

But as I move closer to retirement, I feel a quiet invitation to widen my lens.

I want to see my life as a whole. Not just the part that earns a paycheck or checks items off a list. I want to find my value and worth in the way I live, not just in the way I work.

The quote about the sky feels like a gentle reminder. My job is weather. Some days clear and satisfying. Some days heavy and demanding. Sometimes unpredictable. Always changing.

But I am the sky.

My hours, my title, my responsibilities, my productivity. They move through me. They do not define me.

As I shift to part time, I am also practicing boundaries. Real ones. I am learning that protecting my personal time is not selfish. It is necessary. I am learning that I do not need to be available at all hours to be valuable. I am learning that rest is not something to earn. It is something to honor.

I am also becoming more intentional about relationships. I want to spend my energy in ways that feel healthy and sustainable. I want conversations that are collaborative and kind. I want to work with others in ways that keep me sane, grounded, and whole. I no longer want to measure success by how much I can endure. I want to measure it by how aligned I feel.

There is something tender about this stage of life. It feels less like climbing and more like integrating. Less about proving and more about being.

I am not stepping away from work in resentment. I am stepping toward balance. Toward spaciousness. Toward a life where my identity is not tethered to output.

I am the sky. My work is weather.

And as the seasons change, I want to remain steady, open, and expansive enough to hold it all without losing myself.