Well, it’s that time of year again when schools, students and parents too are preparing for the start of a new academic year.
And it reminds me of when I first went to university in Sheffield all those years ago. Finding my way around, meeting new people, discovering new places (and pubs!), full of hope and anticipation about what the future would bring.
I also remember being at a party several years later and chatting to a couple of girls who had recently graduated. They were so full of enthusiasm, curious and optimistic about the future and with a real sense of adventure, ready to discover a whole new world of opportunities. It was quite infectious. But moments later I was struck by a sudden sinking feeling. And the voice in my head saying “They’re just like I used to be. That was me all those years ago. What happened? What happened to me?” And in that moment I was shocked to realise how much I’d changed, and compromised and lost sight of who I really was and what I really loved.
Well things didn’t change overnight, but that was certainly the beginning of a chain reaction for me. And by the end of the following year, I’d completed a free fall sky dive, left my job after 11 years, volunteered on a research project with killer whales, completed a photography course, attended some amazing trainings and somehow set up my own business. None of these was particularly planned and it wasn’t that I set out to prove anything either. I was just choosing to do what I loved and what made me feel most alive. And it did!
It wasn’t always easy and I made mistakes too. But by the end, looking back, I could really see how far I’d come and had begun to feel like me again. But we don’t always hear the wake up call. We carry on as normal, letting life happen, creating more of the same, denying our hearts and compromising who we are. And we’ll continue doing this until one day perhaps, boredom, burn out or that nagging feeling within rises to the surface to tell us it’s time.
These days I’m still choosing to create what I love. Sometimes it’s easier and sometimes my resistance pops up. But what I do know now, through years of training and working with clients, is how to create more effortlessly, and how to overcome resistance when it does get in the way. And one thing in particular that I really love to do is help other people learn how to do this too. Whether it’s a business they’d love to create, or perhaps a beautiful home, a loving relationship or even more freedom in their lives. Or maybe they’re not even sure what it is that they really would love. It really doesn’t matter just as long as they’re ready.
So if you’d love to discover what really brings you alive. Or if you know what that is but keep putting it off or getting in your own way, please get in touch and let’s chat.
And if you’d like some help to start creating what you love, I have three or four spaces left for clients beginning this September. Let me know if you’re interested soon as you can.