I flipped the page of my planner this week shocked to be seeing the word 'February' (yep, still rocking a paper planner)! It caused me to reflect back on the holidays and how they suddenly seemed a long ways off in the rear-view mirror, and how the momentum of The Schedule is so strong in my life, and the lives of so many people I talk to. I enjoy the structure it provides and know that it helps me to keep my creativity focused, but it's also the thing that causes Groundhog Day. The monotony of going through the motions because it's what's on my schedule.
And quite frankly, it makes me buggy.
This holiday season, I made myself crazy. One step beyond buggy. I had agreed to a work engagement that launched at the beginning of January, and it required that I create a brand-new component to my business. I found myself working every day over the holiday for hours at a time in front of my laptop. I was in Iowa with my family and I distinctly remember looking out the window as the snow gently fell so beautifully on the woods in front of the house. How the colors of the blue jays, robins and woodpeckers stood out brilliantly against the white of the snow. Seeing my son playing outside, eagerly waiting for me to come out so he could ambush me with a snowball. And I remember seeing my weary reflection on the touch screen of my laptop amidst all the fingerprint smudges.
At my core there was a voice that said 'this is not okay'.
As an entrepreneur, my mind rarely turns off because I love what I do and it energizes me. But it's not good for me to be 'on' all the time. It becomes my Groundhog Day and makes me forget the world around me and the important people in that world. I can feel torn between the love for my work and the love for my life outside work. Can you relate?
Over the years I've come to understand that in order to cultivate this harmony, I need regular disruptions in my life to true up to what's important and on a regular basis, ask myself the question:
'What do I need in order to show up to my life in a way that feels juicy, aligned, and BEing the best version of me?'
To hear the answer to this question, I often have to go away. I need time alone to re-calibrate, remember, and quiet the noise of life by stepping out of it. I need to retreat.
I didn't retreat this holiday and I can feel the impact of it. And rather than making myself wrong for it, I let the impact be information which reinforces my knowing that taking a break is non-negotiable. I'm not here to be an automatron. I'm here to experience life to its fullest and keep challenging myself through new experiences - it's how I learn.
We don't need more of the same - we get that in spades and are biologically wired for the known. But if you're feeling a little buggy, I challenge you to choose something that intentionally disrupts your life and notice what happens! Here are a few ideas:
Intentional disruption 1. Take a different route to a familiar spot you frequent.
2. Do what Jim Carey is doing in the photo above and see what happens to your mood.
3. Identify a habit that distracts you and stop it for one day.
4. Apply for a spot in the next Rebel Sage Retreat in Ecuador May 2-9th.
If you are someone that learns through experience, feels more alive when you push the pause button on life to reconnect to your internal compass and love an adventure, I've got something for you. The Rebel Sage Retreat is designed to give you the time, space and sacred technology to deep dive and come out on the other side looking at the world with fresh eyes. And buggy-free. :)
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