Archive | April 2017

Of Mountains and Mole Hills

Sourced from Pinterest

One of the greatest joys, and the biggest stumbling blocks, of life is that it is ever changing.  And, truly, thank goodness.    Imagine being stuck, like Bill Murray, in a “Groundhog Day” loop of your worst day over and over.  Or even how stale that greatest day would be if nothing ever changed.

Change is often uncomfortable.  Especially when it comes at us quickly, is unplanned, or comes in multiple ways all at once.  And the stress of adapting to change can affect us in ways that we don’t immediately recognize.

This happens to me sometimes, when my mole hills suddenly become mountains.  Things that I would normally easily be able to do a quick pro/con analysis of and decide on a course of action become a 3 day slog of indecision.  My best friend calls those times my “squiggles”, when my normally free flowy line of thinking gets all kinked and knotted in and about itself.  Its like I dig for the sparkle, the silver lining, and instead find myself tangled up in the tinsel, the more I try to free myself the tighter it becomes.

I have recently been dealing with migraine issues, which have put quite a kink in my well laid plans, upping that stress level. Doctors visits and time in the ER were not how I had thought to spend my spring break, but such is life, right? (Silver lining today is that I was able to geek it out a bit with a Chem teacher picture of a mole on my blog!  Any former student of mine will know exactly how big of a smile that just put on my face 🙂 ) Dealing with pain, a (new) medical diagnosis or a medical puzzle, changes in job status, family transitions, financial pinches, and/or moving (or even just the thought of doing so) can cause an upheaval that one may not even recognize as a stressor that can affect how one deals with their everyday routines.

These are the times when it helps to get an outside perspective.  Someone who is not attached to the situation can help look at that “birds eye view” ~ the one that isn’t full of “shoulds and could haves” or that sense of competition (you know the one I’m talking about, the “oh, well, that’s not so bad, really.  This one time I…”) to help find a fresh outlook and to look from above to see what options there are to get around that obstacle holding back progress, be it a pebble, a mole hill, or a mountain.  This is when I have turned to my own coach to help me regain perspective on the topography of the problem at hand, and usually what I find is an opportunity to change my outlook enough so that I find that one string that frees the entire knot, allowing my creativity to flow again, leaving me empowered to find a solution.

I do hope that leading into this weekend that you all find something to bring you peace and happiness!  Hope where you are the sun shines brightly on you and yours 🙂

And We Are Live….

Today is the big day…

After all the training, the practice sessions and the rigors of the certification process, the time has come to hit the post button and actually share this creation with the world.

So, why do my hands shake as I type this?  I am excited!  I have been doing this type of thing as a friend, a mentor, a teacher for basically my whole life, and I am good at it… But that darn post button is so scary at the moment!

What is it about that fear of judgement that leaves us frozen sometimes?  Why do the opinions of outsiders seem to matter so much?  Is it really their judgement that leaves us in a panic, or is it our own inner voices swirling around that stop us from becoming our best selves?

In my case, this “post button paranoia” has lasted most of the week.  And I have been quietly analyzing its source.  And, low and behold, its those pesky inner voices, the ones who have been my stumbling blocks along the way.  Luckily, coaches usually work with other coaches, and with a little help from one of mine, I was able to realize this and I will master that post button! 🙂

And so World, Here I Am!  Weeds and Wildflowers is live in 3, 2, 1…