A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 17 – Chic Being
May 6, 2020
Day 17 is “Create Your Own Chic Manifesto” in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 More Chic Days. Fiona developed what she calls her Top 10 Timeless Principles that are her guiding principles on being chic. An example is “Chic Principle 4: I am kind.” She drew inspiration from thinking of those things that made her feel hopeful and empowered. They also help her remember that she is responsible for and able to direct her own chic destiny. One benefit of going through the thought exercise is that it allowed her to articulate what she valued. She now has her own authentic “chic” compass. She encourages us to write our own list of “I am” sentences or a list of “value” words. A good hint that she gives is that a list of things that make us feel overwhelmed or lost is good information. Just write down the opposite of each “overwhelming” item and that shows us what we do and don’t want in our lives.
Stephen Covey, who wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, also encourages us to write down our guiding principles in something that he calls a Personal Mission Statement. In this exercise, we focus on the people we want to be (our character), what we want to do (our contribution), and our values (guiding principles.) Thinking about and articulating our Personal Mission Statement illuminates our changeless inner core. With a better understanding of ourselves – what we value and how we want to go through our lives – we have an inner compass that helps us gracefully handle change and uncertainty in our outer world.
Another good idea from Fiona is the idea of a “mini-manifesto.” A Chic Manifesto that is focused not on all areas of life but on one small segment of our life like a “Chic Style Manifesto” or a “Chic Home Manifesto.”
I like Fiona’s idea of a Mini-Manifesto. In fact, this section of the blog was born of a mini-manifesto (I just didn’t know to call it that) – I wanted to handle Paris lockdown with grace and calm (instead of the not-so-mild panic that I was feeling inside) so I could create a positive and upbeat culture at home for my family. So, I can say that having a mini-manifesto definitely helps frame our objectives and keeps us focused on our ideal.
I am going to use the mini-manifesto idea again starting next week as France begins their “deconfinement” process. According to official news, starting on Monday, May 11, residents in France can go outside without needing paperwork or id, we can go up to 100 km from our residence, and we can stay out of our apartments for longer than 1 hour. No restaurants of cafe’s can start seating people and no groups larger than 10 people can gather together. (France is calling this “Deconfinement” because the nation is definitely not back to regular footing. But residents are allowed a little more freedom.) There is still great uncertainty about how this process will go. We will see how it works based on the numbers of new CoVid-19 cases that develop after it begins. There may be one or more rounds of “lockdown”/”deconfinement” regulations as the year (and CoVid-19) progresses.
My “deconfinement” mini-manifesto (rough draft) is very similar in nature to the “lockdown” mini-manifesto – handle an uncertain situation with a positive and calm attitude. In this case, we are entering the summer season so I will be looking for how to best enjoy our “Summer-in-Place” with whatever freedoms are allowed.
Maybe a good way to look at this upcoming summer is that it will be a combination of a “Chic Sucess Plan for Summer 2020” and the mini-manifesto. The Chic Success Plan will list distinct actions for building/protecting a positive, loving and fun family culture for this summer in Paris. The Chic (Deconfinement) Summer-in-Place Mini-Manifesto will be a list of guiding principles that keep me focused on my behaviors and attitudes. (Covey would rightly say that a list of guiding principles – what he called a Personal Mission Statement – is pertinent in every area of our life. I would agree with him. It’s just that the phrase “Personal Mission Statement” seems like a large project. The concept of a mini-manifesto sounds much more approachable!)
