Corona Week 5: Stuck in a Rut? Movement to Action.
Anyone else felt the dip in energy the end of last week and the start of this week? The. struggle. Is. real. To maintain a schedule. Sanity. To not get consumed by the news. To not go crazy. It’s all there and it’s all real. And. now is when we are being asked to dig deep and show up. I talked about this a bit yesterday on social, but you guys, I’m feeling really convicted. I’m feeling like now is when the transformation and the growth is occurring and we have a choice. We can’t have it both ways. It’s time to make the choice. You think things were uncomfortable before? Things are about to get REAL uncomfortable now. We can lean in, we can cocoon ourselves like butterflies just waiting to emerge… or we can pull back, say, No, I’d rather not live in that dark hole over there. I’m more comfortable right where I am.” The comfort zone is a tricky place, because there is, well, comfort in the comfort! We live having things and feeling like life is easy breezy and predictable and we know what’s coming, when the truth is, none of us know what lies ahead. Sure, we can plan and predict and make ourselves feel better by thinking we know, and ultimately… none of us do.
So… if we put the predictions and the speculations aside. If we stop worrying about “When this will be over” and “when we can go back to normal,” if we read less news and are on our phones less and actually slow down… what would show up for us? For me what’s showing up is my incessant need to please others. What’s also showing up is how I use alcohol as a coping mechanism. Nothing new… and yet… when everything else is stripped away, this is what shows up.
These are things I’d rather not admit, let alone look at, and yet here they are, staring me in the face, and I’m left with the same choice we all are… lean in, choose to grow, choose to look at what is underneath all of that, or be comfortable and choose not to worry about it. “It’s just part of life.” Here’s the thing. I know I’m being offered a huge level up right now. I think we all are. And leveling up means we have to work, we have to commit, we have to find discipline when we’d rather sit on the couch and eat ice cream or binge tv. We have to do the squats and the yoga and the walks outside in nature and the journaling and the meditation and the self inquiry. We have to do the thing that feels hard.
A week ago, I finally, after years of it sitting there, got my website, this website, actually up and running and functional. Like, more than just a domain name I’ve been paying for for years. For years, I told myself it was too hard. I couldn’t do it. I’m not technology savvy. All the things. Then one day, I just sat down and I did the thing. It took me no time, I actually had fun, and I realized I know a lot more than I thought. It gave me a boost. A week later? I don't want to go back and edit that one page. It feels hard again. That boost is gone. I’ve been waiting for the motivation and I’m reminded that sometimes, especially during this time, the motivation may not come and the only way to get moving is to just, well… move. Just start going for it. I didn’t want to write today. I knew it needed to happen. I just started typing… and here we are, almost 1,000 words later. Obviously, I had something to say.
So, my point is in all of this.. If you feel like you are in a rut, if you feel stuck, if you feel paralyzed, if you feel really comfortable being there, take it as a sign that it’s time to either take the level up or not… and if you choose to take the level up… know that the work is there for you to do… and all you have to do is just start moving.
Moving along with you,