Recently I was fortunate to take a trip to the Bahamas.  The trip had been planned for months but inevitably, there was much rushing around at the last minute to take care of everything that needed taking care of in order for me to be away for a week.  In the old days, I would try to do everything, running myself down in the process and arrive on my holiday completely exhausted.  I’m getting better at discerning what the priorities really are before I go away and this past month I got even better! 

Because we are in the 100 Day Challenge right now, doing my 100 Day activity (writing) every day became unmanageable.  After a few days of completely forgetting to do the challenge (and then beating myself up for forgetting) it occurred to me that perhaps I needed a different approach.  Perhaps I could take a break.  Hhmmm…take a break from a commitment….what would people say, what would the other participants think, what would become of my challenge if I took a break???  The idea was intriguing enough that I decided to experiment.  I gave myself permission to put the 100 Day Challenge on a short 5 day break with the intention of returning to the challenge once I had departed for my holiday. 

What relief!!  It may not seem like a big deal to you but the 100 Day Challenge is a commitment that I make to myself and to my community of clients and followers.  It’s important to me that I do my best to stick with it so that I can inspire others to do the same.  Taking a break seemed to go against all the rules!  And…it worked.  It actually gave me more time – not just because there was one less thing on my to do list, but because all the energy I invested in beating myself up for missing a day or in trying to figure out a better system was also freed up.  So often, it’s not the number of things on our to do list that drains our energy, it’s the amount of energy we spend thinking about and resisting the items on the to do list. 

Can you give yourself a break from your challenges?  Just for a few minutes or maybe a day or two?  What new perspective could you bring to your challenges if you had a break?  Can you give yourself a break from thinking about your challenges – just for a little while?  Give your mind the space to explore something delightful or intriguing and notice if that doesn’t change your day, just a little bit!  What do you think?  Share your thoughts here!

Joyfully,

Deb

“Who do you think you are?”

Did anyone ever say this to you?  This question is often posed in an attempt to “put you in your place,” a place of shrinking, hiding or covering up your natural expression of your strengths and talents.  There is some idea that if you are too confident, too sure of yourself or too fearless it’s going to go to your head and you will be some egotistical narcissist – and nobody wants that….

I can’t imagine this happening.  Most of the people that I know and have worked with over the last 25 years are so unlikely to become “full of themselves” it’s laughable.  A colleague in my Mastermind group said to me “I think that instead of shrinking us this question should expand us” and I agree with her.  Who do you think you are?

Do you know who you are?  Are you strong, compassionate, a lover of chocolate?  Do you get excited about NASCAR, irate that 100’s of children go to school without breakfast, weepy over Hallmark commercials?  Do you know that you are extraordinary, beautiful and courageous (you are…don’t even try to argue with me on this one!)?  Sometimes we are not sure who we are because we have been told too many times who we should be which means that our authentic selves often get lost. Isn’t it time for you to know who you are again?

What I can tell you is that knowing who you are makes you stronger, healthier and more powerful.  You make better decisions, develop the ability to say no and set boundaries and are able to create more time and energy for yourself and the people you love. Doesn’t that sound delightful?

Who do you think you are?!