{I want to thank my good friends, Pat Mussieux of Wealthy Women Leaders and Britt Bolnick of In Arms Coaching, for their latest blog posts. Reading their words about taking risks, playing small and scarcity made me think about my life and whether or not I was taking risks to create the life I truly desire.}
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~ Mark Twain
I can’t begin to tell you how emotional I am after reading this quote by Mark Twain. It is seriously creating an energy flow in my body and tears are streaming down my face. I see the word ‘disappointed’ and think about the chances I didn’t take. Why? What stopped me? I read ‘sail away from the safe harbor’ and wonder if I’m really ready to do so. Then I grasp ‘explore’ and ‘dream’ and ‘discover’ and I smile. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions!
When I think about the chances I didn’t take, I don’t have regrets. I know now that I did the best I could at the time with the knowledge I had. Thinking about 20 years from now, well, I want to make sure I look back at this time in my life and say, “You did all that? You rock!” What do I need to do to create that…SAIL AWAY FROM THE SAFE HARBOR!! Throwing caution to the wind…here I go.
My safety net has always been doing what people expect of me. Let me say that another way, I’ve been a people pleaser all my life!!! Whether its family, friends, colleagues, random person on the street, I do everything I can to make them think I’m a “good” person even it means acting in a way that is not in alignment with who I am. I can’t do it anymore.
I’ve worked so hard at being perfect my entire life. Even when I write articles and blog posts, I’ve thought that I had to be perfect, that people would “expect” me to be perfect because I’m sharing my wisdom and knowledge on living a healthy, happy life. Don’t I need to be perfect in order to do that?
I’m grateful to Sarah Segal of David’s Tea (my dear Canadian buddies are probably cheering for this company as they read this) for something she said to me last week. My friend Michele and I literally stopped short in front of the new David’s Tea shop on Third Avenue in NYC (en route to Starbucks…sorry Mr. Schultz). While enjoying a delightfully delicious cup of tea, we had the pleasure of meeting Sarah, whose family started the company in Canada. I was enthralled to learn she had spent years in China studying tea. (Putting that on my vision board!). Yet, after sharing so much about her training, her family’s commitment to their products and customers, etc., Sarah said, “I’m always learning something about tea. There’s always something new to learn.”
Those words were enough to make me stop short, once again, while walking and talking in the shop. “There’s always something new to learn” – even if you are an expert. Let’s just erase “perfectionist” from my vocabulary and rejoice! (Want to join me,?)
Explore. Dream. Discover. I’m doing all three – right now! And, I know now that I have SO much more to share with my clients because I want the same excitement and freedom for them. If there is always something new to learn about tea, can you imagine how much there is to learn about life – living a healthy life, creating the life you desire???
Next Steps:
- Think about this holiday season. What would make YOU happy? What do you want to do?
- Think about your health and well-being. What will you think about 20 years from now? Will you be disappointed with the things you didn’t do to look and feel your best?
- Ask yourself if you are playing it safe and/or if you are being true to yourself.
- Explore. Dream. Discover.
