No, don’t worry, I’ve not gone mad. It’s just that this time of year has always felt like a second New Year to me, has it you? It must be all those academic years being engrained in us from such a young age!
Even though the daily temperatures are still in the low 20’s here in the south of the UK, you can tell that Autumn is moving in. Not only are the kids going back to school, but the long, lazy evenings spent on beaches or in pub gardens with friends and family are already becoming just a warm memory. It’s dark by 8pm and the warm, muggy mornings have been replaced by a crisp freshness in the air. I don’t know if it’s because this is my birthday month, but I must admit, personally I love this time of year and that sensation! It’s as if the earth knows that something new is just around the corner!
Many of us will have had time off over the summer, whether to fly off to explore foreign cultures, have a relaxing staycation or to just simply switch off from work. I had a bit of a mixture this year, sprinkled around work commitments. I had a fun and fairly active family break on the coast and lots of days and evenings spent catching up with friends and family. Then there was the all-important ‘me time’ to relax and recharge, including making my way through a pile of personal development books that I’d been saving for a few months!
Reflection Opportunities
Whatever the reason for a break, with down time often comes reflection. Quiet times where we start looking inward and asking how we feel about things. As someone who is very much into mind/body/soul connection, practising meditation, mindfulness and energy management strategies regularly, this is something I advocate on a regular basis. However, for many of us living in this 24/7 world where you could be doing anything you choose (or not!) at any time of the day or night, a holiday can seem like the only opportunity we get to switch off and have time just to ourselves.
To me, this quiet reflection is vital, not just for our general health and wellbeing but also for assessing where we are in life, and whether we’re still on the right track for what we want to accomplish. And our needs and desires change over time. Do you still want the same things now as you did 5 or 10 years ago? I’m guessing not. Whether you achieved those dreams back then or not, the things that are important to you, or that you aspire to having/being/doing now, are likely quite different to then.
When we’re running around in our busy everyday lives, getting the kids to school, joining the thousands on the daily commute or running our businesses, buying and cooking the evening meal and trying to have some semblance of a social life, weeks and even months can fly by without us even stopping to consider whether we’re happy with how things are going. Or, we have that feeling in the pit of our stomach every now and again that tells us things aren’t quite right. We’re not as happy as we feel we could be, even if we feel that really we should be! Yet we keep putting it off because we think we either don’t ‘have the time to deal with that right now’ or are too afraid to face reality and deal with the consequences! Because, if we admit that things aren’t the way we’d love them to be, what would we need to change? What would the impact of that be?
Perhaps your dream is to live by the sea…to be able to walk along the shore before work and then unwind at the end of the day, with your partner, watching the sunset over the waves with a glass of wine in hand…yet you currently live 100 miles away from the coast! Would this mean changing job, risking losing contact with friends and having to start all over again?! Could you cope with that? Do the up-sides outweigh the downs?
Or maybe every time you sit on the train, heading into the city for the job that pays you really well and enables you to go on great holidays every year and live in your dream home, and yes you get challenged by and enjoy the social aspect of working with your colleagues…and yet during each commute (when you’re not catching up on work leftover from the day before or mentally juggling your evenings around the various clubs you have to get the kids to this week!), you find your mind drifting to the dream of being your own boss. Or turning that passion for helping others into a new career as a counsellor and working hours that suit you now, rather than the international corporation you work for.
Maybe you find yourself getting more frustrated with people and situations? You’re not sure why, because they’re how they’ve always been and you’ve put up with them before? And yet now, they just rub you up the wrong way. You feel like you haven’t got the patience to just let things blow over anymore. Even the smallest things annoy you?
And perhaps you’ve started to feel those stirrings deep inside. That call to finally follow your heart and not just your head. That voice inside, whose murmurs have been barely audible for so long and yet now seem to be getting louder and more persistent! You feel like you can’t just ignore them anymore. They won’t be swept under the carpet, put away in a box to be dealt with ‘when I’ve got time’ or ‘when the kids have grown up and don’t need me so much any more’. Or whatever other excuses you’ve been using till now.
These are the whisperings of your inner being.
The true you, who deep down knows what you really need and desire to feel more fulfilled. To be truly happy. Even though you’re pretty happy with your life most of the time, this is the ‘you’ who knows that things can be even better!
You know it’s likely now or never if you’re going to do this. If you’re going to finally listen to those murmurings and make that big leap into the unknown, it needs to be now. Otherwise, you know you’ll either chicken out or, like you’ve done too many times before, you’ll let the needs and dreams of others supersede your own. And then you’ll find yourself in another 5 years’ time thinking and feeling exactly the same way as you do now! Plus, the regrets that you haven’t listened to yourself yet again will be so much bigger, and hurt even more, because you know then it’ll just be too late.
But, you’re afraid. Is this really what you want? Or is it just a case of mid-life crisis? What would the kids think? How can you risk the security of a job that’s OK? Yes, you wouldn’t care if you never had to do another commute ever again, but otherwise it’s OK, isn’t it? Maybe you just need (another) holiday? Or even just a proper night out with the girls, because it’s been so long since you last did that properly?
But you know, deep down, it’s more than that. So much more.
These thoughts have been whirling around in your mind for so long, that you think you’ll go mad if you don’t sort this out once and for all!
So, what do you do? How do you decide what the right thing to do is?
Well, having a Clarity Call with me could be a great first step!
Sometimes, just getting the ideas out of our head and talking them through with someone whose life isn’t going to be impacted by them, who’s not going to judge you for even thinking those thoughts, is enough to get clear about what you want. Someone who can give you an objective perspective that enables you to see things more clearly than you’ve been able to before. And, if that’s enough for you to take the reins and run with your goals, then I’m more than happy with that!
However, you may come away from our call feeling a little nervous, scared even, but excited too. You know that your dreams feel just a little bit closer and more tangible than they did before. Yet you realise you’d like some help with making them happen. A guiding hand to ensure you do the right things in the right way for the right reasons. Someone who can help you overcome those fears and obstacles in your way and power up your confidence, so you feel unstoppable! And if it’s felt like we’re a good match to work together, then I’d love to partner you on that journey to achieving your dreams!
So, get in touch, book your Clarity Call now and let’s see if we can turn those dreams into your new reality!
Esme was feeling just like that. To hear more about how she transformed her life, both personally and in her business, through having coaching with me, click here…
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