Unfun Choices & Huge Relief

I love the fact that we have control over our lives and what we think and do is our choice. I don't love it so much when I have to make "unfun" choices. It seems like these most often come up in terms of my family and I ran into one this week.

Yesterday I was feeling really frazzled. Yes, it's been a bit busy around the house, but nothing that should be derailing me from my work the way I was. My husband was asking me what he could do to help out and I had no idea so I figured I'd better take a few minutes to think about it. So I walked into my office and it hit me (almost literally as I tripped over all my kids toys :) I had lost my office.

My kids had taken over my office to use it as a "cabin". This means that there were 2 mattresses, dolls, books, pots, pans and all the stuff you need to sustain life in a cabin. This also means I couldn't work in there. Last Monday I thought, "No problem. I'm going to work at Panera today anyway." On Tuesday I thought, "Wow. They're having such a great time, using their imagination and this may be one of the last times they'll create a game like this. After all, they're growing up." On Wednesday I didn't stop long enough to think about it because I was so far behind on my work that I was just whipping around trying to get stuff done in between business calls and kids ortho appointments. By Thursday I was going over the edge and when I walked in the office I saw why. My routine had been interuppted. My space was gone. I didn't have anywhere to go for peace & quiet or inspiration.

It was time to make a choice. Do I put an end to a great game that the kids are enjoying or do I find a way to compromise my needs? Uugghhh! As a mom I have a really hard time putting my needs first. As a business owner I see the value of time and space. So here I am, making an "unfun" choice. I'm not going to tell you what I did, at least not right now. But I will tell you this -- the moment I made the choice, before I even did anything about it, I felt better. And today is a great day.

What do you think I did? What would you do? Lots of interesting possibilities, but it appears that making the choice is the biggest part of this equation.

Rain or Shine - which do you want?

It's been a great spring here in Michigan but it has been pretty wet. Lately I've heard a lot of people complaining about the rain. I spoke to a couple business associates in Traverse City this week and we were all celebrating the fact that we could go sit outside in the sunshine. Yesterday I had a conversation with a business associate in New York and we were talking about how great sunshine is and how much better we feel and more energized we are when the sun is shining.

Today I spoke to a friend in Texas. I made some comment about not wanting to ruin her good mood and her response was, "You couldn't ruin my good mood because it's raining here today". Huh? She's happy because it's raining? Hello....most of the world wishes for continuous sunshine and blue skies and you are thrilled because you have rain.

Yes, she is thrilled to have rain. In fact, she spent time this morning just standing out in it looking up and letting the rain fall on her face, the same way so many of us step out into the sunshine. And the excitement is only getting bigger as everyone in El Paso emails, calls & texts each other, celebrating the rain since it hasn't rained there in over 3 months.

Sometimes we just need something different. Sometimes we just need a change. Rain or shine may not be as relevant as "different". So when you're feeling stuck or bored or stressed, look around and see if it's just time to create some change.

A Movie Moment

You know how we watch a movie and you'll be watching a scene from a short distance away, just seeing people smile and have fun, but not being able to hear them? Those are the scenes that pull at your emotions and make you feel like, "I want that! I want to just be and play and have fun like that."

Well, I lived one of those scenes yesterday. I went to the beach with my girls and our dog. One of my girls was beach combing and drawing in the sand with a stick while the other was skipping and running and playing with the dog. As I stood a little ways back and watched the scene, I experienced that exact feeling we always wish for when we see it in a movie. And then I took a moment to be grateful for it and that magnified the good feelings.

It was an incredible day and I'm glad that not only did I have the opportunity to have fun, but I had the chance to magnify it through vision and gratitude.

Beauty & the Beast of Modern Choice

Pick just the song you love. Listen to your customized tracks. Watch any television show whenever you choose. Drive yourself to and from any place you want to go exactly when you want to go.

The personalization and convenience of modern life is phenomenal.

But I remember buying an album or a cd just to get 1 or 2 songs, and rarely did I not discover more songs I liked. In fact, I often found other songs I liked better than the ones I bought it for.

So I can't help but think that all the convenient, customized, personalization may just be cutton off possibilities.

As we're running through our days, hurrying, and only choosing that which we know we like and are comfortable with, it may be worth our while to choose something new, let in the different, and see the possibilities.

Where did all the inspiration go?

I'm having an interesting experience here. I seem to be in a total logic and logistic mode. I haven't had any inspiration to write which is really strange because I love writing in my blog and posting articles for you guys. I think it's been a week, or even more and it's just not there.

Each day I think, "Okay, something will come tomorrow. It always does". But when tomorrow arrived, nothing came with it; no inspiration, no creative juice.

Of course, the next thing to kick in is questioning and guilt. "Oh my gosh,I'm letting my peeps down. I'm missing out on all the lessons I'm having now. I'm not adding to the blog. I'm not finishing the product for people......"

So today was a day of choice. It was time to take stock and choose my direction. I looked at what's going on and decided that my direction is going to be tying up loose ends and getting systems completed and documented in ReclaimU. Obviously now is not my time to write and create so I'm going into details.

After I chose a direction it was time to take action. Action 1: make a to do list. Action 2: follow the to do list.

I feel better now, the guilt is gone. I miss the creative energy, but it's okay now. It is amazing to me what a difference it makes when we just choose a direction and take action.

Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a little while here. I haven't forgotten you and I'm sure I'll have more to share soon.

Getting rid of the Boogey man

Have you experienced fear lately? If you're going after your dreams then I'm sure you've faced some fears, maybe even frozen in your tracks because of them.

I remember lying in my bed when I was little and being afraid. I was already a little kid who was afraid of the dark and I had an older brother and his friends with great imaginations who believed in helping those fears grow.

Needless to say, I went to bed many nights scared, and I knew that if I got out of bed to get my mom the thing under the bed would get me. I knew it was lurking there and I knew how it worked. It couldn't really come out, but rather it had to stick it's nasty arm out to grab me by the ankles. So that meant I could stand on my bed and make a jump for the door and hope I landed far enough away so as to be out of reach.

The other option was to hide completely under the covers because nothing could get through my wonderful blanket. That wasn't so bad unless you like to breath. It gets really hot and stiffling under there after a while. The opportunity to get fresh air is pretty limited because that would cause a breech in my defenses and that thing could stick it's nasty hand up and reach me.

I can still remember lying there, terrified, and not doing anything. The longer I lied there, immobile, the greater the fear grew until I couldn't stand it anymore and I would get up and made the jump for the door. Amazingly, I made it to safety every single time. Not once did that monster manage to put even one scaly, nasty finger on me.

And I've had the same experience as an adult. When there is something scaring me I'll often times face it, examine it, do all the things "they" tell you to do...and I'm still scared. The longer I sit there, the more frightened I become. And every single time the solution has been action. Doing something that can move me past the fear is the only real solutions I've found.

Yes, I'll still examine it and run through all the logic and all the reasons that everything "should" be okay. And that can help somewhat. But the bottom line is that action makes it go away - and I like the fear to be gone. I don't just want the Boogey man to stay under the bed, I want him to GO AWAY! Action does that - it chases the Boogey man far away from me, and that feels good.