For the past two years I have been learning how to use “thought-work” to help me navigate situations or problems that come up in my life. Recently I had a glimpse of the actual transformation in my life.
Last week I had a major project due for my advanced coaching course. It was to develop and record a one-hour webinar and submit it by Sunday evening. I haven’t ever created a webinar before and I was anxious about all the details, writing the script, making the slides, recording it – all the steps. So I set aside plenty of time to get everything done. I purchased a Power Point template and started jotting down the script. My plan was to do a few of the steps every day and record it on Saturday.
Then on Monday morning a close family friend passed away and the family asked me to help make a display of his life for the funeral. Of course I said I would, because this is something I truly love to do. When we owned our scrapbook store I felt great satisfaction from helping to make bereavement boards. I love stories and storytelling and I am particularly enamored when learning more about people after they have passed, because you find out so many things that you never knew about them.
By Wednesday I was starting to panic a little because I realized that I couldn’t do coaching, make a webinar and make the funeral display that I promised. Oh, and take Lee on a special Father’s Day date Friday night that we planned and had tickets for.
Two years ago, I would have tried to do everything and made myself a crazy woman. I always ended up spreading my crazy to everyone else around me (including Lee), and for a while I felt I was going to do the same this time too. Then I thought about what I was creating for myself and others close to me by going “crazy woman” and decided that’s not how I wanted to operate this time.
Thursday morning after I got done with clients I wrote a note to my course instructor letting her know that I would not be handing in any work this week, and explaining why – and then I didn’t give it another thought. I made the choice that I felt was best and didn’t waste any time second guessing myself. Next I went out and purchased the supplies I needed for the display. Friday morning I woke up early because I was excited to get started. Usually I waste a lot of time deciding what to do. This time I admit asking for Heavenly help for this project, and getting it. I felt like I could see every step laid out for me, and all I had to do was follow them.
While picking up all of the items for the display I made a voice recording of what I was told about each of the pieces. When I reached home I simply transcribed the recording and got to work formatting paragraphs explaining each of the items. I used the same formatting for each caption for little tent cards to be placed in front of each item. Before I knew it, it was time to print and cut. I didn’t have enough freestanding holders for all the tags, so I made tent style mats. This was my favorite part – even the math for the mats came to mind easily, measure the length of the copy, add ½” inch and double it. I didn’t make any mistakes and I used every scrap of red mat paper that I had. It was so much fun to have things go so smoothly. I finished in time Friday to get pretty for our relaxing date.
The funeral was very special, and the family and attendees seemed to enjoy the display. I was also pleased and knew I had done better than my best. Two years ago I would have never been satisfied with my efforts, and now I was. This is a big transformation for me to be content with my choices and efforts, rather than always feeling deficient – and I loved it.
This was yet another confirmation to me that the concepts I am learning and teaching actually work. I am applying the same principles in my life and it is amazing to see how far I’ve come!
