Feed. Your. Soul.

The last six months have been challenging for all of us.  

COVID 19 Quarantine
Trapped indoors by smoky skies and raging fires
Travel restrictions
Canceled vacations
Weddings postponed or socially distanced
Reduced financial resources
People we know sick, or dying
Increasing tech stress
‘Homeschooling’ our kids
The utter LACK of hugs in this world!

Not to mention any personal challenges your may be facing like sick pets, vehicle breakdowns, relationships ending, or health issues – other than pandemic viruses – that force you to expose yourself to situations that could allow you to come in contact with the virus.

Normally, I am a beacon of buoyant energy.  One of my superpowers is seeing the opportunities in the challenges, knowing there IS purpose to the apparent madness, and keeping my balance despite what’s going on in the world or my life.  

However recently I have been feeling the heaviness of it all.  “Golden Fucking Opportunities” (GFOs) for growth have been raining down around me.  I have a travel addiction.  Travel opportunities feed my soul.  So far this year we have canceled nights in Monterey, Yosemite, and Burney Falls, and weeks in Colorado and Arches National Park.  It helped me to know that I am NOT the only one who had to cancel travel plans.  I am not alone in this.  We are all canceling plans, and adjusting to our own set of GFOs.  But then I found out that we have to postpone our trip to Hawaii (booked since February) and don’t have any way to know when we will get to go.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  

Suddenly it was ALL just too fucking much.  Hawaii had been my carrot through all the other challenges, so when they took that from me too, I hit the wall.

In the past

In the past when I hit a wall emotionally, my world would go black and I would crawl under my blankets for days or weeks.  I would beat myself up telling myself I didn’t deserve fun, travel, happiness, or even love.  I would open the dark umbrella thought of “who cares?!” which lead me repeatedly to eat damaging foods, stop working out, and to thinking even more emotionally draining thoughts!  In the past I would lie there wondering WHY I felt so shitty, and why the world hated me and was being so mean to me.

And who could blame me?  Given that set of circumstances, anyone could want to react that way.

But now I know better.

Therapy and coaching have helped me discover how energy draining that old behavior is, how depleting, stress-inducing and disease causing.  

So last week when I hit the wall, I asked myself, “Cyndi, what do you need to feel better right NOW?”

1- Knowing what I need has made a huge difference in my life.
2- Allowing myself to do what I need is THEE difference in my life.

Ever since I learned that what I was doing was NOT working for me,
I have been on a quest to become aware of what DOES work for me.

Some of the things I have learned are:
Having something to look forward to is CRUCIAL to my state of mind.  
Talking to my coach ALWAYS lifts my energy exponentially.  
Getting a massage ALWAYS releases stress.

Rather than spiral into darkness like I would have in the past:
1 – I texted my fabulous coach, Jill Lebeau, and moved up my session.
2 – I scheduled a massage for my day off.
3 – I decided that I would schedule some travel or go stark raving mad.

Despite travel restrictions and the great inability to determine what the fuck the pandemic or politics will bring next, I have been planning my next trip to Croatia for almost a year now.  I couldn’t know when it might happen, I was just having fun dreaming of all the places we will visit when it DOES happen.  I’ve been watching ticket prices for months and they have been pretty steadily priced around $1,300.  That’s less than the last time we flew to Europe, but I was convinced I could get a better price than that!

Monday morning I decided that I didn’t care WHAT bargain rate I might get later.  I knew without doubt that if I had airline tickets for my dream vacation in hand, I would feel buoyant again, and all my challenges would morph back into opportunities.  I decided that I would just PAY the $1,300 fare.  We have been saving for this trip, so we already had enough saved for the two tickets. 

It would be worth paying full price just to feel better!  

The instant I had that thought, my spirit lightened immensely!

I pulled up searches of all my favorite airlines, checked different cities to fly into, tried different hubs to fly through, looking for the best deal available and the most AMAZING thing happened.  I found a fare on a reputable airline, with reasonable travel times for less than $800 round trip for each of us. YES! I checked all the details a second time, then booked the tickets.

Then I had a dance party in my living room. 

I was SO right!  My energy popped back up like a cork I had been holding under water.  Suddenly my energy was vibrant and flowing.
At my coaching session, instead of my coach helping me out of a dark place where I had gotten stuck (as would have happened in the past),
I was telling her about the miraculous return of my energy, and increased capacity to support others through the MANY golden fucking opportunities that are happening all around us!  I knew without a doubt what my soul needed to shine, and I didn’t hesitate to give it to myself.  Some might think it selfish, but that bit of self-care was crucial to my emotional wellbeing, and paid off tenfold!

Go me!

My coach wisely pointed out that deciding to spend the full price because I deserved to feel better embodied an abundance mindset, and that vibration of abundance allowed me to attract the super low fare on a high-quality airline.  

Fuck. Yes.

And now, I feel INCREDIBLE, nearly invincible!  I am manifesting what I truly desire by trusting my KNOWING about what I need, and allowing that to outweigh the financial consideration.  I feel far more able to focus on my life and my clients.

Did all my challenges/opportunities just go away?  Hell no! 

But the things that frustrated the crap outta me a couple days ago seem like nothing more than minor irritants now.  They seem far more like opportunities than challenges.

And burdens that had felt unbearable – the unexpected death of a beloved pet, a best friend facing months of chemotherapy – became at least manageable, and I am able to remember that, in time, even these burdens will reveal gifts for us.

Am I saying that if you are struggling with GFOs you should plan a trip to Croatia?  Maybe.  If that’s what turns YOU on.  Heavens no, if you don’t enjoy travel.

What I am saying is that when the world seems to be crumbling around us it’s extremely beneficial to know what it is YOU need. 

Then allow yourself that.  ALL of that.

Grow on!

What works for you?
What person, place, thing lifts your spirits no matter what?
How can you allow yourself more of that?
What’s holding you back from allowing more of that in your life?
What will change for you when you allow yourself more of what feeds your soul?