You’re looking at pictures of my summer purse and its contents. I chose the purse three years ago because it went with everything, could easily carry snacks and water bottles for two kids, and was cheap. True story!
I hadn’t thought much about it since then. Until yesterday, that is. Yesterday, I took my Virtual Chill Tour guest Danielle Watson up on her generous offer to all Chill Tour participants to do a complementary Purse Process—her signature service where she asks you all about your purse and its contents and then reveals what your purse might be telling you about who and where you are versus who and where you want to be. (Intrigued? Email me and I’ll connect you with Danielle.)
I told Danielle all about my pretty bright blue wallet that had been a birthday present to myself. And she pointed out that my purse, in all its neutral-ness, sent quite a different message from that wallet. Like, could I be hiding my vibrant self beneath an exterior that wanted to blend in? Huh.
Her comment rang true to me because hiding my vibrant self was a theme for a big part of my life. I’ve spent a lot of those last three years paying careful attention to all the subconscious ways I attempted to stay unnoticed. I’ve worked with coaches, journaled, given myself a slew of new experiences. I’ve come a long way, baby.
So when Danielle gently pointed out that I was still carrying around some old ideas about blending in to the background, at first it stung.
You’ve felt that before too, haven’t you? This again?? Aren’t I past this?
But you know, that’s the way it goes.
We’re never done growing.
Change isn’t a straight, upward-pointing arrow with an ending point. It’s more of a doodle, a curlicue that trends upward but still includes times of doubling back and moving downward too and that just. Keeps. Going.
(Here’s a hint for you – the growth happens on that downward edge. )
You can make big changes and still, there’s more to see.
Because growth isn’t “set it and forget it,” we all need ways to stay on track and keep moving forward, even as we ebb and flow. We all need a practice that keeps us true to ourselves. And we all need regular help from others. A lot of times those others will be people you pay, and yet without your own practice, no amount of help from others, no matter how well-intentioned or well-compensated, is gonna get you where you’re designed to go.
I’m going to talk all about this idea of practice during my portion of the Virtual Chill Tour, which is happening this Sunday, August 25 at 5pm ET. The tour wraps up this Sunday, first with my interview with Meagan Francis, blogger at thehappiesthome.com [please link!] and author of The Happiest Mom. Meagan shares her most powerful strategy for staying relaxed and still getting things done, as a mom, as an entrepreneur, as a human being. Meagan’s on at 4pm ET, and then I’m on at 5pm ET, giving my The Practice of Getting Real talk. I’m going to share what I do get and stay happy and keep growing, and talk about the one basic thing you need to do it too.
If you haven’t signed up yet, I hope you’ll join us here:
http://www.virtualchilltour.com
It’s free to listen, and if you’d like recordings of all eight of the interviews and listen at your own convenience, you can buy those too.
And if you’ve been getting the feeling lately that it’s time to do more than listen to free talks – that it’s time to do some growing – reply to this email and tell me a few sentences about what’s going on with you. We can set up a free call to see what we can see. It’s an hour devoted to you. You may get just what you need in those 60 minutes and go on your merry way. Or you may decide that you want that much devoted attention and support on an ongoing basis and we may – if it’s a mutual fit – decide to work together as coach and client. Either way is perfect. J
Here’s to being open to things that make you go “huh.”
P.S. After my call with Danielle, I went out and bought a new purse. Here it is. She’s a beauty, isn’t she?
