I really appreciate the emails I receive from time to time from readers who ask why I’ve been relatively silent and where I’ve been. My focus is shifting, and I’ve been deep in process for months. I’ve thought about you all and wanted to check in, but it’s a bit like inviting friends over in the middle of a major remodeling project. My foundations are shifting, things are askew. You’ll have to pardon all this mess when I invite you in.
Wrong wall?
I like the tale of the professional who efficiently climbed a success ladder, only to discover the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. That is a real danger, but this is different. SpeakStrong was the right wall for me and my readers. It was and is an important climb. I still climb the SpeakStrong ladder from time to time to find and refine my evolving voice. I can’t say I’ve mastered saying what I mean and meaning what I say without being mean when I say it, or that I ever will.
But something else calls me now. My focus has been closer in lately. Years of career focus kept me too busy to tend my own garden—metaphorical and otherwise.
Tending my own garden
Now, my attention is shifting from questions like, “How can I juice up my training?” to “How can I put lotion on my own back and keep it moisturized?” It has gone from, “How can I add music to my webinar?” to “How can I set up music in the different areas where I operate?” It has gone from, “How can I get people to click on products and buy them?” to “How can I train myself to click the burner off on the stove when I’m done?” It has shfted from, “How can I get more done in a day?” to “How much can I gracefully do in a day? How do I prioritize so my schedule is not too full?”
“How can I be a good wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend?”
What matters to me now is easily finding what I’m looking for. Having time to add a flourish to a completed task like straightening the sofa. It’s being able to do things that the overwhelm from uncurbed ambition left no room for. I call it Space for Grace.
SpeakStrong has been a great ride. And I’m not retiring. I AM retiring from clutter, chaos and pressure.
Starting from Silence
Sometimes the best way to organize a closet it to take everything out of it first. And sometimes the best way to SpeakStrong is to stay silent until you really know what you have to say that is current, relevant and true to your soul.
And that is why I’ve been relatively silent for so long. (And that is also how I’ve been able to sort my closet enough that I can find my clothes in there now! It’s a beautiful thing!)