Are you keeping up?
The world – just in case you haven’t noticed – is rapidly changing. With all the disruptions globally and locally, how do you keep up? Not just with what’s happening around you, but also doing what’s right for you and those you love.
Let me tell you a story.
There’s this fine woman – let’s call her Sandra – who came to see me to get clear on achieving her goals. As a young mum, ambitious but putting her family first, she’s also involved with her community. Having chronic asthma and a husband who at times went into steep depression added to an already full life.
They both had dreams that connected and were when they could have a snatched moment together, they at least talked of achieving them. But you know the daily drill; stagger out of bed grateful for 6 hours of sleep, the lunches and breakfast, the dirty jacket that gorgeous kid has to wear that day and ensuing jostle, the school run, the gratefully getting to work, the who-picks-up-the kid’s tussle and can’t we have takeaways? The spilt milk in the car and the football in the face during practice, the extraordinary heating bill and the dead hedgehog on the lawn that needs a rainy funeral. The falling to sleep exhausted, feeling guilty because you haven’t spent quality time with yourself let alone anyone else. Those snatched moments.
So when Sandra came out of hospital after a bout of asthma, she decided she’d book three sessions to get something out of a life she was putting so much into.
About halfway through our second session, I realised her pattern. Her amazing abilities were hi-jacking her life. Torn between doing the right things and what she’d committed to achieving on a scholarship for her Masters, her conflict between family, career and charity work, was starting to spill into conflicted indecision and stress in all areas of her life.
She didn’t have a clear path because she’d missed a couple of fundamental steps. Her values weren’t clear. So how could she focus on what was most important to her if she hadn’t articulated her values and her purpose? She clearly had them, but when multiple layers of opportunity and forced change came together, she was tossed around like an unanchored boat in a monster ocean.
Her subsequent plan has meant more clarity and less stress.
It takes a while to identify values, and it’s been time well spent, she decided. Values aren’t set in stone, so writing them down is just a strong place to start. Not having them, she said, was like having a house without walls and a foundation. Lots of activity, but there weren’t any boundaries. Saying no to some opportunities has meant Sandra’s more settled, as is her family.
If you’re in any way frustrated, confused and overwhelmed by what’s happening for you, let’s talk. Free discovery conversations can give you some clues to become even more of that amazing person you are. Send me a message and we can arrange a time to chat.
