Sometimes you need to pause
In order to gain focus
I’m feeling a little jumbled these days.
Maybe it’s the heat.
Maybe it’s the solstice.
Maybe it’s all the yarn things I start to avoid diving deeper into … my own psyche?
All of that may be true. The year started out hard. I know I’m not the only one. Energetically the world is a mess and personally things were hard and painful. I thought, after my husband was released from the ICU things would go back to “normal” and to some extent that happened.
We came home.
I fussed over what he was eating while studiously avoiding what >I< was eating because after all I did NOT have a heart attack and 7 hour bypass surgery. I went back to a job that took so. much. energy. and paid very little. I thought I’d taken the job to be a part-time bridge gig so I could build my own business. Instead I’d thrown myself into working way beyond my pay grade and transitioned to full-time because that seemed easier than taking action on my business.
I left that job and the false sense of security it gave me to, purportedly, build my business.
Gratefully, there are people who have seen value in my guidance and in me without me treating my business like a business. THANK YOU.
Nearly 60 days have passed since I went to a job and I am finally coming out of the haze of a year that hasn’t been at all what I’d anticipated for this phase in my life. In the haze I felt like I was wading through primordial ooze - each step a slog to pull one foot out of the muck just to put it down in more of the same. I wasn’t unhappy or depressed so much as I was doing whatever seemed the next best thing for surviving. Maybe that sounds too dramatic? Clearly there are people all around the world today who truly are fighting to survive. And I don’t want to compare. My exhaustion was in my bones and my heart and my soul. I showed up. I did the things. I smiled and laughed and checked on everyone and everything that needed checking…except of course myself.
Two months feels like an awful long time to knit and crochet (but the SWEATERS! the Christmas gifts!) and avoid my business (with the exception of writing here). And it’s been the perfect amount of time to start putting the effort into listening to the still, small voice inside. I’m laughing out loud these days. I’m going to the gym and making more conscious choices.
I’m embracing my spiritual side again - meditating, journaling, reaching out to friends and mentors who have always held space for me. I’m doing hand analysis sessions for adoptees. I’m doing interviews for the Adoptees at Work Podcast (season two launches in September).
Finally, I’m treating myself like a business owner and my business like a business.
I realize now that every time I burn myself out in a job (high paying or not) it’s a nudge for me to start recognizing my own gifts and talents. It’s an opportunity to ask myself about the belief that I have to WORK HARD to be successful. And it’s a chance to get curious about my own definition of success. I mean what does that word mean anyway?
All this to say - my business is built around serving people who are in flux with their careers. It’s about diving deeper than resumes and LI profiles to uncover what gifts and talents you bring to the workplace. And it’s about building those resumes and profiles with you so that you shine in ways that make you irresistible to your ideal company (or client).
Want to meet one-to-one to dive deeper into work and identity ? Join us next Weds for the Porch Chat!!
This one is on the house - to say thanks for sticking with me this year. I couldn’t do it without you. Paid subscribers - I’m going to have something extra for you!
Be sure to register here The live zoom will happen on Weds 6/26/24 at 5pm Eastern.