Start somewhere
Last week was busy, full, awesome.
I had a client call, a couple of consults with deep-life-livin' meaning-making women, and a session with my Writer Babes. It was all wonderful. I got to support amazing women, and I also learned a lot.
I learned that there's one thing that stops a whole lotta people from doing what they really want to do.
Over the years, I’d say that at least half the women I’ve had consults with had the same issue. It came out differently for each person, but the bottom line was pretty much the same: I feel called to live differently/make time for creativity and/or self care/stop apologizing or accepting less than what I really want in my life, etc., etc. ... BUT I can't do it now because ... (insert obstacle here).
Now, some of the obstacles these folks had were substantial and real. Some were huge and challenging. Things like this need time/energy/focus to deal with them, move, or adjust. And most of them CAN be moved, dealt with, and adjusted.
But the majority of them contain a story that so many of us tell ourselves: that there is a MOMENT when we will be READY for the thing we're called to.
And to that, I say: bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
Side bar confession time: I struggle with "not ready" too. A lot. I stalled with making my solopreneur leap for a long time because of the same stuff: I needed to have my payment systems perfectly set up on my website; I needed a VA; I needed perfect branding and a polished signature offering; I needed my office to be perfectly organized (oh hahahaha...); I needed a fabulous, re-fabbed website.
But I didn't need all of that.
I just needed to get started.
I needed to hang the shingle, "open the shop" and get going.
It took a while, but I did it.
And you can too.
We all learn by doing, and adjust as we go. And when it comes to rediscovering yourself, making changes, and making meaning in your life, it's a process.
So if you want to live differently/deal with the conditioning that makes you doubt yourself/make time for creativity and self-care/stop apologizing and accepting less than you really want in your life, etc., etc. ... you have to get moving.
Start somewhere.
Try this at home: Start where you are.
As Tristine Rainer (one of my favorite journal writing experts) says: Begin with the present moment. "What are you feeling, thinking, experiencing? What do you desire? What do you fear? What do you value? Whom do you care about? What is changing in your life? What is changing about you?"
Or look around the place where you are right now. Pick something you see – anything: the tchotchke that you inherited from your grandmother, the candle on the mantle, the dog sunning on the floor. Start with one of those, pick up a pen and write: The dog is sprawled out on the carpet in a patch of sun. She looks so content. I'm longing for that kind of contentment. It's been hard lately. I feel so stressed at work and ... (see how that can go?)
Just get started. One step at a time.
Begin.
Start somewhere.
