Welcome! It is April, spring is here and as we look back on the events that have occurred in the world and here at home, I believe we can all agree that these past 12 months have tested us all.
The challenges have been many. In fact, personally, I found my mojo disappeared a few times since mid-February until now. As I shared with a few friends, “My get-up and go, got-up and went”!
I was tired, unmotivated, restless, bored, and come the weekends, I slept more than usual. Now, granted where I live, we have been under lockdown since late October. Meaning stores, movie theatres, restaurants have been closed. Now, we can do take-out, but there has been nowhere to really go and this winter here in Toronto, I feel we have had a bit of cabin fever and that is added to the lethargy and lack of inspiration.
This week hit me hard too. Usually, my business has had me teaching webinars, coaching business owners, but it was as if the entire week slowed right down to a crawl. I went with it! I slowed down, and as mentioned above, I lost the verve, the passion, and energy. I found myself sleeping more and it was a challenge just to change my bed or go for a walk.
Now, normally, I love my walks and I feel good when my home is clean and, yes, that I have fresh clean linens to sleep in!
As a coach, and owner of a learning company, I should not be like this, right? As a man in this world, I should be go, go, go! Right?
I should be type A and not give into my feelings and emotions, right?
I say, totally WRONG!
In the times we are in, you need to feel the feelings and even give into them. I mean, if you look at the great leaders in history, some had to rest, or lean on a buddy to make it through!
Moses had his brother Aaron, Jesus had the Disciples and even Jesus had to rest at times. In a more modern-day context, Michael Jordan had a great team around him, like Pippen and Rodman, plus he had an amazing coach in Phil Jackson!
This year’s Super Bowl winning quarterback, Tom Brady, had Gronk, and Antonio Brown to throw too and Jason Pierre-Paul to defend and a team that came together, when it was needed most.
The key here is that you are not going to win every day. You are going to have a bad game, or make a mistake, but if you look at the whole of your life, I guarantee that you have had more “Wins” than losses… and more good days than some low-energy days, where you are not feeling inspired.
The thing to know is one must feel these days. Allow yourself to sleep, rest and have days where you do not accomplish much if at all and where you wave the white flag!
You see, these days, as challenging and uncomfortable as they are, have a gift inside. Yup! Like a box of Cracker Jack’s Popcorn, there is a gift inside those days.
You are not a loser, or less worthy. You are not a weak man or woman who gives into feelings; you are a magnificent human being who like any of us, has a day or two or a week where we are not feeling it.
So, what is the gift in these moments or days?
To me, it is about listening to your voice that knows exactly what to do.
Maybe you need to mix the routines up.
Or get off social media for a week, totally.
Or read, or paint a picture, or walk, or learn, meditate, sit outside and contemplate life, or connect with nature, or pet a cat or dog, or not do anything of any consequence in your business for a week.
That is what I did. I can honestly say to you, this combination of things has me back on track, with new ideas and my energy is way better. Plus, I am getting new ideas to implement in my business.
About 10 years ago, I was part of a Mastermind team. We met once a month. On this day, when we met, we did something different; we did body movement to music, we let our bodies flow with the music for a good 30 minutes. In fact, our meeting was in a dance studio as opposed to a boardroom.
Once, we did body movement and dance, (don’t worry, I did not wear a tutu…smiling). We sat down on the floor to create our Vision Boards and then we had a group discussion as to what the vision board meant to us.
After about 3 hours we completed this “Play-day” and then went to one of our group member’s homes. We sat out in the backyard on this sunny May day, and shared in a nutritious lunch that included quinoa, salads, fresh juice, tuna and water. Now, it helped that the team member hosting the lunch is a “food and nutrition coach”.
Once lunch was over, we said our goodbyes and scheduled next month’s meeting.
But that half day of dance, fresh air, and vision boarding was a play day to break the routine. The inner critic in you could say that the meeting was not productive.
What happened the next day for all of us, was that we were re-charged, more creative and had a new spark to put back into our lives and businesses.
If you want to be successful this year, you must feel the feelings when you have days of feeling low energy or resentful or uninspired and listen to what that experience is trying to tell you.
It is okay to rest.
It is okay to have a walk in the park in the middle of the day.
It is okay to paint a painting.
It is okay to meditate.
It is more than okay to step away from the grind and sameness of life (especially in these pandemic times).
It is okay to “veg” out and not feel guilty.
It is okay to have a news and social media fast.
It is okay to be still, silent and retreat.
It is okay to journal your feelings and frustrations.
It is okay to yell and scream (just do not do it at someone else).
It is okay to listen to punk rock music and dance like no one is watching!
It is okay to listen to or watch your favourite comedian!
What is not okay is that if the feelings last longer than 2-3 weeks, seek out support, as it may be a form of depression and you want to get counselling to help you out.
In closing, you need to be loving and accepting of you right now. When you need to get away and re-group, do it. If you need to break routine, do it. If you need to connect with your soul, do it.
You are magnificent!
