Beaver Creek Reservation - Amherst, Ohio photo by Todd Sechel
October… we see the old year starting to fall away and the new year beginning to take shape. For those of us who live in an area of the world where leaves fall from the trees, we watch nature go through this process in front of us. This October I feel particularly reflective, as I remember last October…
In October 2015, I made the life changing decision to expand my life’s work beyond the organization I was a part of. I made the decision to focus each day on using my gifts and passions to serve the world. I made the decision to stop spending time on things I didn’t like to do. I made the decision to shed comfort and safety for limitless expansion. I made the decision to approach the world with love and truth all the time...
In the past year I’ve gone through many stages and have experienced rapid growth. At times I’ve felt amazed and thrilled and at other times I’ve felt totally overwhelmed and confused. I’ve found that each time I am amazed and thrilled I see something new… my vision becomes clearer, dots connect that didn’t before, and everything expands… leading me to a new overwhelmed and confused stage…
Overwhelmed and confused sounds bad, and there are times when it doesn’t feel good. This is when fear and ego start to creep in saying things like… “you can’t do this”… “who do you think you are?”... “what are you really doing?”... and I could go on and on. There are days where I feel like I’m in a fight with my mind. There are days when my mind wins… sometimes I don’t even realize this at first. But, at some point there’s a moment of clarity where I see how I’ve prioritized something easy or have come up with a reason to avoid something that scares me.
Do I go on? Do I stop? For me, there really isn’t a choice… I go on. I reach within for my courage. I remind myself that this cycle will continue, and each time I expand I will need to muster more courage and shed more limitations that are hanging around inside of me.
How do I get back to my courage when I feel that it’s slipped away? There’s one powerful question I always go back to: “why?”.
· I am living my vision, taking responsibility for my happiness, and living without limitations that could hold me and my family back.
· I believe that if we are all living our visions and using the best of ourselves to serve, we will live in a transformed world.
· I approach the world from a place of love, compassion, and empathy, and feel called to help others live awesome lives by inspiring vision, reclaiming courage, and showing how to transform.
· I am using the best of me… my passions and gifts and the experiences I’m so grateful to have had… to serve in all aspects of my life… family, community, business, etc.
When I go back to “why?”, it all sounds so simple…
I’ve admittedly been in a stage of feeling overwhelmed and confused recently… the vision is expanding… I need to connect with people in more meaningful ways… I love writing and could spend every day writing for hours, but I don’t want to “be a writer”. Writing is just one way to do what I really want to do: to connect with others. But, I was hiding behind writing to avoid more vulnerable ways of connecting…
So, I’m mustering up my courage and you’ll see videos, in-person connection invites, online discussions, and speeches. I’ve avoided all of these because, honestly, I was scared of looking silly and being rejected. It took me a while to admit this to myself…
I used to have a great title and people had to meet with me. I didn’t always love the subject matter, but I could get the audience. Now, I’m just me… 100% Carrie with no title… nobody has to meet with me or take my call. However, the subject matter comes from a place of love and I know it will be impactful. My “why?” is my calling and I can’t let a little fear get in the way!
I’m emerging from my latest overwhelmed and confused stage having learned that as I evolve and grow I will continue to enter these stages from time to time. I need to embrace these stages as incredible learning opportunities and dig deep to discover what is driving them. As October draws to a close I am thrilled for the new year ahead and to shed another layer that was holding me back!
What will you shed this October? What makes you most excited about the year ahead? Shed some limits and start living the life you dream of!