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The Gift of Destruction…..

 

I remember being a young girl and not only loving biology but especially loving the lab experiments. One of the earliest one’s I can remember is common to most of us. Remember when we had the opportunity to germinate a Lima bean? Oh my goodness, it was barely believable that we could take such a tiny hard seed, cultivate it and a small plant sprout would emerge! I remember wrapping the Lima bean in a damp paper towel and placing it in the bottom of a clear plastic cup. We sat them on the window sill and day after day anxiously ran to the cup to see if we could see the fledgling sprout. And then the day finally came. I remember like it was yesterday—seeing the shell of the seed split wide open and seeing the little tiny spiraling green plant shoot emerging from the paper towel. Although the plant was in its infancy there was something quite triumphant about what had taken place. When the conditions were right, something that was ingeniously encoded to produce a plant did exactly that. The size of the sprout wasn’t critiqued, nor was the time it took. I celebrated the young plant because it did what it looked like it couldn’t do (at least from my young mind) and it amazingly flourished.
When I think of personal growth I think back to that little Lima bean seed and this quote by Cynthia Occelli. No other quote has made me rethink my beliefs on personal growth.

I’ve witnessed the growth process within myself and struggled with it so much in the past. Who said the process had to look like a thing of beauty? In my experience it’s been far from that. However, the results, which matter’s most always, were and is a thing of beauty. My only regret is not always marveling at the process as I’d viewed my Lima bean lab experiment. I guess it’s a different perspective entirely when you are “the seed”. We are all just a seed! And every seed has within it many other seeds, so I find in real life there is a never-ending process of destruction and growth. There’s the destruction of our false ideas, understandings, perceptions, etc. about life and business. The continual cycle of destruction is necessary for us to grow into the best of ourselves and become who we are meant to be. It’s not always an easy process but this type of destruction doesn’t have to be the worst thing when personal growth is concerned, huh?
Maybe the best way to approach this “growth cycle” is to wait happily and expectantly for that which is to come. Simply put, focus on your gains instead of your losses.  If we cultivate and water our minds and place ourselves in the best surroundings growth is inevitable.  The new beginnings that are the result to being broken down and reemerging into something new. I believe in a lot of ways our confidence is dependent on this process. Trusting the process and looking forward to new perspectives, dreams and goals that lie ahead. In nature nothing flourishes without dying first. It’s no different for you. But imagine all of the beauty in you that will come from it……

Reflection:
-In what ways have you experienced the “growth” cycle in your own life?

-What thoughts, mindsets, perceptions do you realize need to die within you in order for you to “grow” to the next level?

-How can you be more mindful to celebrate your growth and your process of growth?

 

***My 20F.A.D Stretch Goals—

Reach out to at least 50 people this week to inform/offer/follow-up about my Confidence coaching and Image services.

What are your goals?

Remember Confidence=Action! Acting doesn’t have to require feelings or  emotions. It’s about pushing forward and making your gifts more accessible to others. Remember there are people who need what you have. Stop looking inward at you and focus on the people you’re using your gifts to help!

 

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You Can Only Tread Water for so long……

You know that feeling you get where you’re not quite sure you’re doing the right thing. You know the hesitation you feel. That stirring in the pit of your stomach. The rifling through the recesses of your mind to find all of the excuses to substantiate why you shouldn’t be doing it.

Well in my case that’s the very sign I’m doing the right thing!

As it’s been for the last 30+ years, that’s EXACTLY the bombardment of emotions I get when I’m stepping out of my comfort zone. I’ve kinda  gotten used to it. My mouth always tends to say “yes to something” that my nerves aren’t always sure I can pull off. But you know in the end—at least 99.9% of the time things always work out marvelously and I wonder what I was so anxious about in the first place. Again, you’d think I’d be used to it by now. In a lot of ways I am. I’ve learned to drum it up as louder than usual background noise.

However, in this case it’s a little bit different. My brain knows that and so does my heart and that’s what’s adding to the nerves.

I can see why I’ve never been an adrenaline junkie. I don’t think I can get use to the sudden rush of emotion that makes you crave more of that feeling. Kudos to those folks but they’re definitely not a member of my tribe.

Well you wonder what’s got me a bit antsy. Well it’s the adventure I’m about to embark on. This blog is a part of a new adventure and chapter I’m embarking on in my life.  I’m about to undertake a pretty big experiment and I’m the very focus of that experiment. I’ll explain what more of that means in the next post.

Experimentation is nothing new to me. I spent 15 years in my previous career working in Marine Microbial research science conducting hundreds of experiments and tests and explaining my findings to other’s. There’s a bit of masochism, boldness, curiosity and sometimes even a little insanity (LOLLLL) wrapped up in experimentation. For me it’s one thing to experiment on bacteria (as I once did) or other things but a whole other to do so on myself.  Or is it?

Technically speaking isn’t life a big experiment?  What about it makes us think we really have any control. Trying to hold on to life is sometimes is like trying to hold on to a bucking bull. I remember when I thought I had my career goals all figured out and everything was set on course and, despite having some of life’s challenges, I would enjoy smooth sailing. Boy was I delusional!!! The best you can do in life is prepare and have a sense of direction and move toward it.  Even with that life can take some unexpected turns and you can hit some unanticipated bumps that will shake you to the core of your confidence.

To put it brutally honest—-You have to decide if you’re going to sink or swim. You only have two options. It’s funny we train and train to learn how to “swim” —navigate life, grow and make the best decisions possible. And when we panic we stop and just tread water. It’s not so much that we don’t know how to swim we just forget we know how to do so or we are too intimidated to do so.  FEAR will do that to you. Specifically, the FEAR of FAILURE!!! It will keep us stuck in life. And trust me I know all about this.

I struggled with this for far too many years. But as I came to realize you can only tread water for so long. You’ll never end up anywhere if you only tread water. Actually, you’ll eventually tire and just sink. Getting moving again is key. And it takes confidence to do that. This blog is dedicated to showing how I started out swimming in life but let obstacles such as the Fear of FAILURE ultimately cause me to tread water and sink. But I learned to SWIM again!!! I got my Confidence back!!!  By the Grace of God I did and I’m committed to inspiring & helping other’s do the same!!! I’ll show you how I leverage the idea of failure to achieve success and how to conquer your fears with action. My goal is to push my own efforts to an even higher level! THAT IS THE PREMISE OF THIS BLOG! We’ll see what happens when you run the risk of making up to 20 failures a day. Is Failure truly the key to success??? Let the experiments  begin!!!!