But wait, what happened to day 21 Joey? Well, my eldest prince came home for a surprise visit from the Airforce and I made the conscious choice to prioritize spending time with him rather than locking myself in my kitchen and banging on the keyboard. I am both honored and amazed at the number of you who reached out both in concern and disappointment for lack of their challenge assignment. So, first things first...
Our challenge for Day 21 was to make a healthy recipe. Another small way to layer on the core discipline of ________________. You guessed it, self-care. Cooking for ourselves sustains our mind, our body and our environment. Which we covered last week in “Table for One”. So, if you would like to take a moment and make yourself a salad, green juice or mug cake, please feel free. I’ll wait right here…
Awesome, now that we have nourished our bodies, let’s talk Day 22...it’s an awesome doozy and I’m super stoked! I also seem to have swallowed a valley girl from the 80’s, but let’s roll with it...tools needed for today’s challenge: pen and paper. Grab your journal, a notebook, cocktail napkin, the back of a receipt in the bottom of your purse and a pen, pencil, sharpie, highlighter or crayon. Today, on Day 22, we are going to create our 5 Year Plan...in less than one minute. Good thing you just ate, huh? Otherwise, that sentence might have made most of us pass right out! Don’t worry, I got ya...breathe, relax, today we are going to dream.
“Imagine the woman you want to be...and then be her.” - Donna Loader (aka My Queen Mother)
Where does she live? What does she do? What does she wear? Who does she hang out? What does she read, watch and listen to? How does she eat? What does she do for fun? Where does she go/travel? What does she ride/drive or fly?
How can you know the answers to any of these things, if you haven’t even let her dream? So, grab your paper and pen, cuz we are gonna do an exercise called paperclipping. Some people call it brainstorming, but I think this is just way more fun. Set your timer for 60 seconds and then write down everything you envision your life to be in five years. What have you accomplished, participated in, written, said, acquired, given away, cleaned up, cleaned out, etc.? Just keep writing, I don’t care if you think about riding a unicorn, or climbing Mt. Everest, or writing your biography, or building a tiny house...just write it down!
After this powerful, and yes possibly grueling minute, you just work backwards from there to here and start walking...step by step, mile by mile, state by state, that is how we get anywhere we want to go. Detours will occur, there will be construction in the road, even roads completely washed out, I promise you that. BUT, we will eventually get there...as long as we never stop walking.
Does this feel overwhelming to you? Is life just so big, or spinny or out of control that you can’t even see to dream? Honest engine, this might actually be closer to where I am right now, too. If this is where you find yourself today, just grab ahold of that “one thing” and make a plan for that. For instance, five years from now, I would like to:
Lose 50 pounds
Travel to Europe
Not struggle to pay my bills
Have a car with air conditioning
Get a new job
Move to another state
Pay off my credit cards
Having a focal point many times can get us through the spinning and before we know it, we have accomplished something great and the spinning suddenly doesn’t feel so intense.
For me, I decided to focus on The Infuse Project. What do I want to see for this organization and those we serve in the next five years?. Once we know what we are working towards, all we have to do is reach for it...consistently, courageously and with confidence that we are becoming the person we set out to be.
Having a hard time getting started? Here is a super simple worksheet to encourage not only your dreaming process, but also the untapped motivation behind it. Knowing why we are reaching, makes us MUCH more likely to grab a ladder when necessary. Can I get an Amen?
How does this feel to you? Are you excited, stuck, stoked or completely freaked out. Comment below with your thoughts...Remember, somebody needs to read what only you can say today.
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