Let's Make Lemonade

One of my favorite summertime drinks is lemonade.  You take something that is awfully sour and turn it into something sweet.  You can even jazz it up with some ingredients like lavender or liquor.  What a beautifully versatile drink.

I think lemonade and life have a lot in common:  You can change it up depending on what you add to it or keep it just as it is.  I am the type of gal who likes to mix it up, I've come to learn.  But with anything out of the familiar, it is a risk, and risk-taking can provide some big wins or big losses.

When I was younger, I wasn't as cautious about a lot of things.  I think that is the case for many of us.  We learn to be fearful as we grow older and I lost my optimism and throw-caution-to-the-wind attitude over the years.  Many people who know me would gasp at such a reflection but I struggled for many years trying to regain an inner sense of my can-do attitude.  

It took a lot of work over a period of time, but I got my groove back.  It is how I moved across the country to a city I've never been to; how I followed my passion to produce a podcast about the arts and find some funding to help support it; it is how I committed to writing a book for women over 40 who think the world can go eff itself for thinking it can pretend we don't exist or matter.  

One of my always present intentions is to make choices that make me proud but also my daughter proud.  A lesson or nugget of wisdom I hope to share with her is to dream big and go for it.

Over the past year or so, I have made it a point to welcome failure as one of the realities to embrace.  No one I know likes that "F" word.  With baby steps, I have been pausing to look at what didn't work and find the wisdom I can carry forward from the experience. And it is due to that shift in perspective that has led me to pursue something I have wanted to do for eons but lacked the confidence to do it: launch my own business!

After years in the nonprofit sector, I've learned a thing or two, and the knowledge applies in any part of the country.  I am taking my two decades plus of across-the-board experience and offering it to organizations who want to raise the bar on getting their message out into the world.  All nonprofits want to do that but lack the capacity to do it.  My role is focusing support for those who lack the resources.

More to come later!  I have a plethora of skills that came out of success and failure.  I remind myself that we have to fail in order to learn.

I'm failing my way to happiness.

Where's My Spin?

A reflection on release and abundance is where I am at today. Those seem, or feel, totally not connected, but I do get it. This is a new way of looking at the start of a new experience and it occurs to me, this is kind of a start of a new year for myself. They say, you always need to prime a well to start the pump. So, I am going to focus on an inflow of positive energy to prime my personal pump. I've decided that when I hear the murmurs of fear, I will talk to it with loving-kindness. They say that works! 

As I reflect on this time of change, one thing it provides is an opportunity to explore. That is my word for the year, you know. I will be a willow tree in these new winds of change - flexible and graceful.

Now, releasing the ways that are familiar to me is very scary and quite uncomfortable. You know what I am talking about, right? Regardless of how useful it may or may not be, not holding onto a bad habit is a true test of strength of your spirit. How can I be a true blue explorer and not be stopped in my tracks due to fear?

I think about how magnificent it would be to live in Paris, but then I think about it and know it would be lonely, namely, because of the language barrier and cultural differences. I think about this as a reminder that nothing is absolute perfection, but the joy that is aligned with exploration is a fine reason to take a few leaps of faith here and there. Nothing is guaranteed on this journey called life, so why not take some chances.

I'm trying to release a long-lived learned habit of assuming the absolute worst is bound to happen (someone called it catastrophizing) and it's an interesting way to live. Not. I suppose the reasoning is, it likely couldn't be that bad, but if it is, I'm prepared and not disappointed with the outcome. Isn't that crazy?  Instead, what if I spent the next few weeks imagining the best possible outcome and relearning to live with a saturation of optimism? What if I use my brain and my heart to imagine the best of outcomes and if the actual outcome is different, then I will embrace it with love, acceptance, and understanding before releasing it. I encourage you to also give it a go and let me know your tricks to letting go and letting in, okay?

I know this reads a whole lot of woo-woo, but when you think of healthy options to transition, it kinda sounds good, doesn’t it? Or, I could just try a Wonder Woman spin.

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