Are You Ready to Unplug?
There’s a lot of urgency everywhere in the world today, lots of fears about getting it wrong, missing out, not getting what you want, losing what you’ve got and being left behind. It's easy to get sucked into comparing ourselves to other people, regretting key moments in the past and worrying about the future.
Focusing on what you don’t want to experience is not a good idea. It just brings you more of the same. What you focus on is what you get more of in your life!
What can you do not to get sucked into the fear, doubt and disbelief that’s everywhere around you, the feeling of being incredibly stressed? It’s about unplugging from the way most people do it. Unplugging from what magazines, the news, talk shows and lots of people say you should and should not be doing, which means giving up on your dreams and goals.
Even the people that love you and want to give you the best possible advice are operating out of their own biases, beliefs, and fears, and can easily sabotage your success if you ignore your own inner knowing, if you allow yourself to be swayed from your initial inspiration that really lit you up, that you knew was the way forward.
So if you have a new seedling of an idea, do not share it with anyone unless you are absolutely 110% sure that they will support you, cheer you on, have your back and keep your secret safe until your great idea is a sturdy tree.
Find ways to support listening to your own knowing, that still small voice inside that can be easily muffled by all the busyness in your life. Find ways to get your head clear, to let go of daily stress and deeply breathe. Meditation. Yoga. Hiking, Skiing. Swimming. Biking. Running. Meandering through nature. Enjoying the full moon. Walking in the brisk night air. Lying on the beach. Painting. Drawing. Writing. Journaling. Building something. Clearing out the old – giving away, throwing out or selling everything that you no longer need or use. Relaxing with a friend. Being alone and enjoying it.
Find ways to nod your head and smile in all the right places and then follow your heart. Sometimes, it’s not worth making a point or having a prolonged or heated discussion with someone who just doesn’t get you, who wants to push their views onto you.
Gather people around you who understand you and get your vision, who care about and support you without needing anything back in return; gather people who are your tribe, people who have your back as much as you have theirs; people you can count on when the waters are rough; people who will tell it like it is while always holding the ideal of all you can be, the clearest, brightest version of you.
Practice being a witness to the stress of others, to the wound up, there’s not enough time, it’s too hard, I’m not going to make it, playing out in the world. Be in the world but not part of the urgency in the world. Don’t judge it. Accept people and situations and circumstances as they are and make a new path for yourself and for others to follow; a path that is calmer, more productive and supportive, more in alignment with who you are choosing to be.
Unplugging from the urgency, stress and fear that is all around is not a one-off thing; it’s a daily endeavor. You are swimming upstream. If you stop or forget for a day, you will be swept back into the old.
It’s not easy being different. It’s not easy being the eye, that calm quiet center in the midst of everything that is happening in your world. Anything worth having, calm assurance, being able to handle what is in your in tray with grace, ease and flow, is worth fighting for.
If you’re ready to unplug, find support and systems to guide you step by step of the way into a new way of being, one that supports your heartfelt success, one that's in alignment with your vision and ideals and goals.
