When do you feel confident? When are you a good listener? When can you speak up and share your thoughts?
I love these questions.
They’re all about finding out when you can do or be something, and what helps you do it.
Who can you celebrate your wins with?
There’s a particular joy when you achieve something special.
Perhaps a plan comes together, a long-held goal is realised, or something you hadn’t anticipated springs to life. Or you pause to look back and realise you’re exactly where you hoped you could be.
The sense of achievement can be enormous - and accompanied by a whole range of other emotions. Relief, delight, exhaustion, excitement, joy, sadness that something has come to an end, even though that’s what you wanted!
So it helps to take some time to bask in all of it, to let it wash through and over, to settle into it. To reflect on and notice all of the parts and acknowledge them. To celebrate the moment and the work that went into it before moving on to what comes next.
Which can be surprisingly hard to do!
It's the Summer Solstice | A lovely time to shine a light on your life
Are they the only 2 options?
Sometimes in life it can feel as though we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Perhaps we’re trying to make a decision about whether to stay and put up with where we are, or leave now to find something new?
Or choosing whether to keep the peace and stay quiet, or speak up and create conflict?
Or wondering whether to say yes and go all in, or no and let it go?
Does your brain work better out loud?
When I’m trying to figure something out, the hardest place to do so is in my own head.
My thoughts and feelings go round in circles, trying and failing to find a way through - never the most useful process!
Once I get them out - either onto paper, or into words - it’s so much easier to see and understand what I think and feel.
And it’s not just me.
What’s good in your life?
I’ve had many beautful examples of what’s good in my life over the last few weeks - the flexibility to expand my horizons and have new experiences, thoughtful gifts and messages, connecting with people who I feel most myself with, doing work that lights me up, and so much more.
It’s a wonderful dose of good energy, and a reminder to acknowledge and appreciate what I have - because it can be easy to forget!
And I know I’m not alone.
A (birthday) gift of pausing for perspective
It’s the week of my birthday.
The end of one annual cycle and the start of a new one. A time to pause and a moment to reflect, to celebrate, and to look ahead.
I’ll be doing just that - tucked away in a corner of the Lake District and at home.
So, in place of a reflection this Monday, here’s a birthday wish - with love from me to you.
What would help you feel better?
When I was away recently I hit a low point.
I hadn’t slept well for a few nights and was fed up of being in unfamiliar territory. I was under the weather, longing for some time and space on my own, and feeling very sorry for myself!
I found myself wishing I was back at home so I could take care of myself.
And then I stopped to think. What would I actually do if I was at home right now? What would help me feel better?
Could you use a restorative pit stop?
Last week I spent a chunk of time back in Yorkshire on retreat.
The same venue, another brilliant group of women, another transformative experience to absorb and reflect on.
Usually I drive straight home afterwards, using the 5-hour drive to decompress before returning to my everyday life. This time I pit stopped with a friend for a night.
What a gift!
What helps you keep going?
It’s been over 4 months since I started Couch to 5k and I’ve just completed the final run of Week 4 for the 5th time.
Can you tell it hasn’t gone to plan?
It’s really not been the consistent, steady process I hoped for when running and I started dating again. There have been false starts, frustrating setbacks and ever decreasing motivation.
At the start of the year, I hit a low. What was the point? Was it even worth keeping going when it felt this hard?
