After 37 years with myself, I certainly know what makes me tick. And what doesn't. I know that I'm a creature that grows bored with routine and daily activity that leads me unchallenged. I know that I have to feed the competitive monster in me, I know that I need to be intellectually stimulated, and I know that I have to maintain a good balance of body, mind, spirit in my daily life. When something is off balance, I'm pretty much a disaster. And everyone, unfortunately, can tell. I'm OFF. I'm miserable.
Currently, I'm not miserable. But I'm a little off. I'm bored. I'm also antsy, itchy, and craving something HUGE. And I'm not sure if jumping out of an airplane, or even traveling to the other side of the world can curb this craving. I know this, because in my deep, heavy, self-analytical discussions with myself, I have narrowed down a few things...
Number One: Through my work, I have had the rare opportunity to help young girls grow into confident, athletic women. I have worked with countless girls who struggled with their identities, their body image, and their mental toughness. And more often than not, I got to watch them overcome those hurdles and rise above teenage adversity, embrace their athletic prowess and become incredible young women.
Number Two: My favorite part of my job has always been what I've achieved in Number Two. It's what led me to my vision of Gutsy Girls Adventures to begin with. Hmmmm...
Number Three: It's not enough to dream about doing something huge. If I don't feed the dream, I'm only going to feed the boredom again and stay right smack dab where I am. This life is short. If I'm unhappy with my situation, what's the point of staying in it? And after all these years of teaching young girls to embrace the unknown and conquer their fears, what kind of example am I if I don't live by my own words?
Number Four: LEAP! After my wind down phase, I am now in my "under construction" phase. This phase involves a lot of journaling, lots of note taking, lots of emailing and talking to people I admire and have asked to mentor me, lots of late night discussions with my partner over what steps are realistic to take today and what steps might need to be taken later, and most importantly--being accountable to myself to do something to move forward EVERY DAY!
Number Five: Maintain BALANCE while in "under construction" phase. It's easy for me to get carried away with the excitement of change and the HUGENESS of what I want to accomplish. It's also easy to get overwhelmed. So, it's super, super important for me to meantime, keep things balanced and take time in my daily life to recognize the here and now. Because sure, I've got big plans, but I've also got some pretty awesome stuff right here in front of me that simply can't be ignored.
Of course, I don't have it all figured out yet. I'm 37. I'm just BEGINNING to figure it out! But that's part of the fun, right? --where I've already been, what I've already done, the mistakes I've made, and what I've learned along the way. Truly, as deep in my head as I can get sometimes, I've discovered that I'm really just a big kid who has big crazy dreams and looks at most things in life as a giant amusement park--with a few big, scary, stomach dropping rides with twists and turns that end up being pretty darn AWESOME! Which leads me to Number Six...
Number Six: Don't take it all TOO seriously.
Love!
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