I am feeling a little philosophical today – maybe it’s the time of year. The Easter Story, Spring arriving, the first quarter of the year gone already. Whatever it is, I find myself thinking about new beginnings, new adventures and the uncertainty of life.
You see, here’s the thing, life is uncertain. We literally never know what is round the corner – or up in the air – like the picture of the dogs floating with balloons! Life goes along at a predictable rate and in a predictable way….until it doesn’t. And that is the way it is. It would be pretty boring if it didn’t go that way.
Sometimes the unpredictability brings good things. And sometimes it brings things that we might see as bad, at the time. Maybe you are made redundant, or your partner leaves, or your child decides to take up a job in another country. And you didn’t see it coming. That can be tough. Although later we often look back and see that it was a turning point. The good things that came next would not have happened if it weren’t for that.
When life throws you a curve ball, there are 2 things that make it easier to catch.
The first is knowing your purpose.
Finding your WHY. When you know what your purpose is in life, what you are here to do, it makes all other decisions and situations easier. I can’t pretend to know much about theology, but it occurs to me that in order to take the decisions that Jesus took (whether you believe that is the absolute truth or just a story), you must need the strongest of all purposes.
Knowing what you are here to do makes the next decision simpler – if not easy. There is nothing easy about losing your job, or an important relationship or person. However, when faced with a decision about what to do next, if your purpose is clear, the decision will be simpler.
For example, recently a colleague was made redundant. They wanted to run their own business and were faced with 2 immediate opportunities. One was to go on a free course, and the other was to take up a full time, well-paid job, doing what she did before.
Knowing her purpose was to help people to see past the moment they were in and appreciate the possibilities of the future, made it simpler for her to make the decision to take the training. Even though the easier decision would have been to take the job. Her purpose would be better served by the training which would enable her to start the business she felt destined to open.
Purpose is powerful.
With purpose, difficult situations are over-comable (is that a word?). With purpose, the path appears and the universe creates the opportunities.
The other very important factor in how you handle life’s curve balls, is community.
No Woman Is An Island
Life can feel very lonely sometimes. After all no-one else is in your head apart from you, right? And whilst women do tend to be better at talking about feelings and emotions than men, we are also brought up to make everyone happy. Girls are supposed to ‘play nicely’, speak when spoken to, be polite, share, look after our siblings, and generally not make a fuss.
And we may have experienced negative responses to saying ‘No’, or being honest about our feelings, especially when they don’t fit in with someone else’s world view.
And yet, having said that, it is incredibly important to be who you are, which means speaking your own truth, and being in an environment where you feel able to do that. You probably CAN cope with all the curve balls on your own, but you don’t have to. I would go so far as to say, no woman becomes great on her own.
The Importance of Community
You need a community around you to support, to hold you to a higher standard, to share, and to cheerlead. There is a community for everyone, a tribe that feels right for them. If you are genuine and authentic, your energy will attract the right people to you. And they might just be in our community of WHY’s Women.
If you haven’t already joined our community in the Live Love Laugh Lounge – email me (cheryl@charyl-chapman.com) and lets talk. And if you would like know, what the first step is to finding YOUR why – then take our free genetic blueprint test. This short questionnaire gives you a really accurate picture of who you are, which is the first step to discovering what you are meant to do.