3 Ways to Leap in February
I learned today that February means cleanse.
I started thinking about what cleansing means to me. My mind usually goes in multiple directions which may or may not connect with each other. I was finally able to see some themes and I narrowed them down to 3. These are my 3 and they are not particularly in order. It’s more like they are the top 3 of many more thoughts – because well…..overthinker. They all felt like leaps to me. You may have an entirely different set. They may spark thoughts, feelings, or actions for you and I’d love to connect with you about them.
1. Don’t waste your pain and re-channel your energy
For those of us who have experienced pain or trauma, we have each had many moments when we have to make a choice about how to move forward. Going back as far as my little 5 year old self, I can reflect on times that awful things happened.
In the moment, I didn’t always make the best decision and for many years one bad situation compounded into the next. Life wasn’t all bad, but there were enough bad things happening that caused me anxiety and depression. I was in some negative cycles for years.
By the grace of God, people and events happened that started to slowly enable a CLEANSE and shift to more positive cycles. That didn’t change how painful the awful things were, but paved a different path forward. Family dysfunction, abusive relationships, money struggles, shame – those could all have led to with very different life than the one I’m currently blessed with.
I was listening to an episode of Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday a few years ago. Glennon Doyle was the guest. She talked about addiction and at one point said that she decided not to waste her pain. That very simple sentence struck like lightning and I’ve never forgotten it. Today, I am committed to not wasting my pain. I can re-channel it to grow myself and help others.
Where are there areas in your life where you have experienced pain? What would be different if that pain was re-channeled for your growth?
2. A second life and a mid-life awakening
For the past several years, I have had a nagging feeling that something was missing in my life. It felt a bit selfish because my life was great in so many ways. I had a great husband, kids, friends, home, career….and still I wanted more. However, I couldn’t put my finger on what. So, I kept going. The days, months, and years passed.
In 2018, I started to have glimpses of clarity. In 2019, I realized I didn’t want more. I wanted to give back. I had been reading and listening to a ton of information about individuals who were finding their purpose (it was the thing). The consistent thread across all of them was that they did not think about or see the same constraints I did. Each of the individuals had some part of their life that was all about AND. It wasn’t this or that. It was this and that. I had to CLEANSE my mindset.
I wanted to spend more time coaching AND keep my full time job. Now, almost 2 years later I have learned more than in the past 20. I have a coaching business AND a successful career. I am thinking about more speaking events AND a book. It’s a ton of work AND highly rewarding. My perspective is that I didn’t change my life. I started or added a second life. Some people have a mid life crisis. I had a mid life awakening.
What have you put off because you think or feel you have to choose it over something else? What if you thought about an AND?
3. Clarify and Refine
The New Year is the most obvious time of time to set goals. That’s usually true for me. And then….pandemic. Nothing has been the same. The last two weeks of 2020 didn’t seem the same because we didn’t have the same milestone events with family and friends. The beginning of the year snuck up and started off very busy.
Sometime around the middle of the month, I started to feel overwhelmed and realized I needed to CLEANSE – clarify my priorities and refine my actions. I invested time on opening the planner I purchased and had been avoiding, adding calendar events, and looking for ways to automate steps in the business. This meant being disciplined in a way that is outside of my typical approach.
At work, I shared my priorities with my team and began taking intentional actions to match what I shared. I am a people pleaser at heart and saying no was very uncomfortable. I learned a couple of lessons. First, I was more concerned about saying no that others were about hearing it. The time I gained back had higher returns for myself and many others. While the latter may not always be the case, the former gives me more reason to continue the CLEANSE.
What areas do you want to CLEANSE? What do you need to resolve for that to happen?
I don’t propose that anything I’m sharing here is a fact. These are my opinions and experiences and I share them as food for thought. The specific food – watermelon. Enjoy the fruit and spit out the seeds. Take what adds most value.
Want to work with me, connect, or enjoy more fruit?
Til next blog…..
LL
