Bring It On!
Once upon a time I used to think inspiration needed to be captured. It was something that needed to “still” happen or was necessary to further develop or to take action that often required facing fear and becoming vulnerable. So what would I do? I would read, listen, and seek out stories and insights to help me shift towards whatever it was I was going after. Until one day something was very different.
The lull……
I can remember the day distinctively. I was feeling at an all-time low. I was used to so many great experiences of success, money, achieving goals and all of the in between but I had hit a low point. It seemed nothing was moving. I wasn’t making progress. I was stagnant. Nothing was in the works. Nothing was coming to fruition. I did what most women do, and I started to get in my own head and in my own way. Days were filled with feeling sorry for me, feeling confused as to what was “next” for me and thinking I already lived my best professional life and there was literally zero clarity to my future purpose.
Feeling annoyed and frustrated……
What used to inspire me started to annoy me. The motivational songs, audiobooks, quotes and stories felt like a lie at this time because I was closed off to any possibility of becoming inspired. I was waiting for inspiration to “happen” to me rather than “creating” inspiration. I was literally just waiting to be waited on and took little to no responsibility of seeking out ways to get going because my work in the world needed to be shared. Nope, I was owed the one thing, the one song, the one story, the one person, to come in and shift me right back towards where I needed to go. Of course it didn’t happen. Can you relate?
My epiphany….the common denominator
So on this particular day, after months of feeling like nothing was happening in my life, I decided to search within. Go figure, right? Why is it, as women, we forget just how powerful and intelligent we are that we actually use seeking internal council as a last resort, if at all? When I did this, something came over me and I started to map out all of what I have already accomplished, all the goals I met, all the success I had had, and I studied it. Wow, what a shocker it was for me to remember some of the big and small instrumental experiences I had in my life. Do you want to know the best part of it all? They all seemed to connect. Yes, every experience connected to the other and there was a common denominator because nothing sensibly should have connected from one experience to another, yet it did. The common denominator was me. I was the catalyst to every situation and to the result of every situation.
Inspirational balance…
So on that day, after months of feeling stuck in stillness and feeling unable or limited, I inspired myself. I was the inspiration I needed. Just me! I didn’t need anything at that time, but myself. So, my friend, there is a balance we should seek out and that balance is to not only be inspired (which is wonderful) but to also get gutsy and realize inspiration can come from you and you alone.
When you need a healthy dose of inspiration….
Take a few minutes and revisit your own journey. Rather than hearing someone else’s story, why not retell your own story to yourself so you can not only remember you are enough and that you are amazing, but so you can also get excited again. You might be wondering how to do this and to be honest, any approach should work. Here is what I did….I created my own inspiration timeline.
I made a timeline….
I carved out a ten year window of time and I started to plug away. I looked at the following:
- What I accomplished
- What lives I touched
- How I conquered fear and crushed negative head talk
- How each experience aligned perfectly so the other experience could be lived
- What resources I had
And then I took all of the information from my timeline and revisited my story over the past ten years. It was enough to inspire me to tackle my next BIG ordeal, which for me was launching a business and getting ready to publish my Get Savvy Stepmom book. Are you ready to create your timeline? Remember to be your own source of inspiration! Deal?