Share Four Somethings: Playing Big in August

Today is Labor Day, which means summer playing time is over and it is time to get back to business. I’ve recently returned from Daughter Tour Summer 2018, with stops in Los Angeles and New York. If they can’t live next door to me, I am at least grateful they live in two of the greatest cities in the world to visit. Please let me know if you would like to see one of many photos. Or you can go follow me on Instagram where I am learning how to do Instagram stories because I am extremely hip (but only when I am hanging out with my twenty something daughters.)

As has been my practice all year, the end of the month means it is time to Share Four Somethings. Here is my monthly wrap up of August and this month’s offerings of Something Loved, Something Said, Something Learned and Something Read.

Something Loved

This month, I am grateful for the ability to walk. Simply put, I love to walk. I love to walk in the woods. I love to walk through the neighborhood. And I really, really love to walk busy city streets. In the month of August, I walked over 250,000 steps according to my Fitbit stats. When I was in LA, Seattle and Brooklyn, I took advantage of my surroundings and wandered the city blocks for hours. Although I love company, especially when it involves an all too infrequent visit with my one of my daughters, I am just as happy to wander alone. Living in a big city someday is at the top of my bucket list, primarily because I love to walk in locations where there is so much to see. This month was a great walking month and my desire for the fall is to do more walking, alone and with friends. Local friends, let me know your favorite places to walk and come join me!

Something Said

As I grow, learn and improve as a coach, I am grateful for the opportunity to celebrate milestones with my clients. Part of the process of ending a formal coaching relationship is intentionally looking back and shining a light on any transformation that has occurred. This month, I went through the closure process with a client with whom I had the privilege of working for over a year. I was moved to tears by their words on the closure paperwork and asked if I could share them so others would know how powerful the process of coaching can be. I am grateful this person was willing to share their experience. Here is an excerpt of what they said about coaching:

I now believe that I am a powerful, creative being with the power of awareness to make choices and take first and scary steps towards my goals. I am no longer stuck in my pit with my elbows over the edge simply looking at the Land of Possibilities. I can pull myself out of the hole and move forward to the “Land of Possibilities.”

Coaching helped me realize that the answers to my dilemmas were all there residing within myself. Coaching has changed the way I think about situations, my life, my relationships. I am not helpless. God is the architect over my life and I do have choices within His design. There are no right or wrong answers. There are choices and each choice will lead to a path. That path is neither right nor wrong; it just is. If that choice results in an undesirable outcome, then I have the power to choose a different path. 

I love that my coach, you, never tried to define how I should think or act. You didn’t tell me how things should be done. Coaching is a series of great questions formed by great listening, by picking out important and impactful themes from one-on-one conversation.  I also love that, through the question and answering, I am able to take deep looks at areas of my life that I would not have considered or explored. I really love that you think of life as discovery and adventure…because that’s exactly what life should be.

The last thing that I will say is that I thank you for every minute of every session. I thank you for listening. I thank you for asking those tough questions. I thank you for helping me climb out of my pit. I thank you for caring. You have been a critical piece of my last year and a half and have left me a better person, one who is able to choose and not feel defined by old beliefs. You have quite literally helped me save myself.  For that, I am eternally grateful.

Something Learned

August has included loads of learning. I am writing a new curriculum for my Beyond Brave group coaching program, so I have been devouring resources on best practices for personal development. If I had to encapsulate everything I am reading, it might boil down to this:

There are no shortcuts.

Growing, learning, changing, and realizing our goals requires consistent attention and intention. We aren’t going to accidentally stumble into living the lives of purpose and meaning we want to live. We are not going to arrive at a final, complete version of ourselves once we finally figure out the secret code. We have to get up every single morning and choose who we want to be again. And again. And again.

While I am slightly disappointed to find out there is no magic wand or secret formula, I am relieved to know I’m not doing something wrong. Show up, do the next right thing, leave the results to God. Start over when I get off track. And then do it again tomorrow.

Something Read

Although I haven’t discovered the secret code, I have read some FABULOUS books this month, full of tools, tips and strategies that I am finding incredibly useful. Hands down, this month’s recommendation is my favorite. If you are a woman and you are ready to get out of your own way, please run to your nearest book seller and purchase Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create and Lead by Tara Mohr.

Because I have hit my self-imposed word limit, I’m not going to tell you anymore about it. Go read the table of contents on Amazon and know that every single chapter was incredibly practical. This woman is the real deal and I predict the tools, language and strategies I am learning from it will have a long lasting impact on both me and my work, particularly with my female clients. It meshes beautifully with the topics in my retreats and book, yet goes deeper into how our society perpetuates and even rewards our continuing to play small. Bottom line ladies, the world needs us to play bigger and this book can help.

For those of you signed up for my group coaching later this month, stay tuned because you will be hearing more about this resource!

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That’s all for this month! As always, go check out what all my smart friends have to share in their Four Something posts this month HERE.