When I am operating within my mission, it keeps me going.
How can I teach when I do not know?
Being stuck does not allow me to learn.
How can I inspire when I am stuck in a hole?
I need to keep pushing forward.
How can I serve when I am stuck?
Look at it this way; if you were a waiter, could you serve the table if you are sitting in your chair?
As a leader, it is my role to set the example for others; getting stuck is not what I choose to do. WAIT, unfortunately sometimes it does, so what do I do?
I surround myself with people that energize me.
I am not looking for those who are in a pity party; otherwise I will end up in the pit with them. If you put a crab in a bucket and it can climb out of that bucket, it will climb out. But if you put two crabs in the bucket, when one of the crabs tries to climb out, the other will pull it back in. Neither will ever escape. It doesn’t matter that it’s possible to escape, the crabs will hold each other back from doing so, that’s why its important to choose driven and like-minded people to be in the bucket with you. Thrive15.com is an “edutainment” company created to help you succeed; I choose to be surrounded by mentors that help me stay driven. I enjoy being around those that encourage me to be a better version of me. The Journey Training allows me to be around people that encourage me to pause in my life and take action on things I may be putting off.
Listen to music that uplifts me.
There are certain kinds of music that uplifts our spirit, others that supports our misery. I choose uplifting. I also listen to soundtracks from movies. I think and you think of happy things, it changes your mood.
I go for a walk
When you exercise it releases endorphins, and it puts you in a better mood. I was recently on a walk, and irritated by my own decisions. I came across this HUGEMOUNGOUS, UGLY spider. It was eating its own web. I sat there for 30 minutes. No radio, no TV, no distractions other than the occasional bird, or dog barking, and watched it. It was almost like the spider was taking up the webbing that it had made, and put in the wrong place and was eating it. I read later that spiders do that to get back the energy and protein it needs. It helped me realize that some of the decisions I made may have been wrong, but I can learn from them, and they can make me stronger.
The solution here is when you get stuck, get moving! Take action! Hiding, going to bed, addictions, watching TV, all of these are easy ways to stay in your rut, in fact they are ways to continue to stay stuck.
When you are ready to make a change, you will take action. This is one of the many reasons I am a HUGE supporter of The Journey Training. You want to get unstuck, go thru this training. I will guarantee this will help you. Why? Because you are taking action, taking a step.
Being stuck is a just that – stuck! Want to be Unstuck? Get UNSTUCK!
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In our culture of Instagram and hashtags, people are always posting pictures with #nofilter. The person posting the picture is promoting the fact that the picture hasn’t been edited. There is no lightened effect or any coloring added to the photo. The photo is authentic. It’s completely real and I’ll be honest, when I see that hashtag, I’m frequently in awe of the picture because it is so rare to see unedited photos anymore.
I heard Pastor Andy Stanley preach with the theme #nofilter. He said things and put things on the screen that you wouldn’t expect to hear in a church sermon. He was putting it all out there. But that kind of authenticity reaches people! Andy has a reputation for preaching good wisdom for Christians, but common sense for anyone listening who is not a Christian.
What would life be like if we all lived with no filter? I don’t mean where we said and did every single thing that came to mind. I mean, what if everyone around you was truly living authentically, being comfortable in their own skin and being REAL with themselves and others? I believe there would be less fear and doubt. There would be greater vulnerability with one another, which would build intimacy.
When I attended The Journey Training‘s first class, Threshold, people were unfiltered right out of the gate. It even surprised the team how fast our group got authentic with a group of perfect strangers! That unfiltered authenticity built special relationships. It fostered an environment in which I was comfortable removing filters even I had.
Maybe we won’t be seen in the best light. Maybe we will show our flaws. Maybe others will see we aren’t perfect. They’ll see the real deal. They will see us. #nofilter.
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It’s too much! I’m overwhelmed! He or she won’t leave me alone. They’re really overwhelming me. I have to plan, cook, clean, take care of the kids, and insert 5 other obligations! I’m so overwhelmed! It’s all too much!
Any of these sound familiar? We use the word overwhelmed to describe a significant degree of intense emotion. It can be used positively (overwhelmed by support, for example), but is often used in a negative manner.
According to Merriam-Webster, overwhelmed can mean 1. To affect someone or something very strongly, 2. To cause someone to have too much to deal with, and 3. To defeat someone completely.
In my experience, overwhelmed is OVERWHELMINGLY associated with Definition 2, to cause someone to have too much to deal with. I have been changing my perspective to define it as the first, to affect someone very strongly.
Big Daddy Weave has a song, “Overwhelmed”. It’s a beautiful song for worship, with lyrics like, “I delight myself in You, captivated by Your beauty. I’m overwhelmed by You.” Captivated by God, now isn’t that much better than having too much to deal with?
In the next month from the time this is written, I will be moving and will begin a school year as a full-time Special Education teacher. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed already, in that I have too much to do. I’m choosing to keep the perspective, not of too much to do, but being captivated by all that I GET to do! I have a new home AND a new job! How awesome! I’m captivated by this next chapter of my life!
In The Journey Training, participants are equipped with tools to deal with their feelings and perspectives! Sign up for the next Threshold class and you will be overwhelmed by the love and support you receive…and you don’t have to cook or clean a thing!
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I am so thankful for the times in life when the light bulb comes on – the champion moments that occur when we least expect them. I didn’t think visiting my lifelong “bestie” in Wichita would be one of those times. I was packing for the trip to meet her last Sunday and Monday – she was traveling from MN to Wichita to watch her son play in a college golf tournament. We hadn’t seen each other in a number of years due to busy lives and distance but we still keep in touch. I was stressed out about what to pack, what to wear, why had I not lost some weight, gotten my hair cut….Will she think I look good or have aged a lot…. completely forgetting that she has been my closet friend for 46 years and has seen the good and bad, all of it!
I have always loved being around her and we always seem to pick up where we left off. She is always smiling and when we were kids she was always up to something. I have always admired her love for life and outgoing personality. A few years ago she was diagnosed with MS. I wondered if she would be the same, surely that kind of diagnosis changes a person but not her. I wondered how she was still happy and encouraging to me and others. I was telling her what an inspiration she is to me and that her attitude, in the midst of adversity, is simply amazing. I told her I wanted to be like that but that is something I struggle with and maybe it’s a personality thing. She said you just worry way too much!! The choice comes in the surrender – true, 100% surrender to God and being who he created you to be.
I went back to my hotel room later that evening thinking about true surrender. I picked up a book I had taken along for the trip in case I had some time to read. “Confidence of a Champion” by Tim Marks. I started reading a section of the book which contains a passage from “The Greatest Miracle in the World” by Og Mandino. The passage is amazing – it talks about the miracle of you and me.
Never, until the end of time will there be another such as YOU.
YOU are the rarest thing in the world
God brought forth a one of a kind, rarest of the rare – YOU!
YOU are a priceless treasure possessed of qualities in the mind and speech and movement and appearance and actions as NO other who has ever lived, lives or shall live.
Why have you valued yourself in pennies when you are worth a king’s ransom?
How can YOU – one of a kind you be anything less than invaluable? YOU are EXTRAORDINARY!
Why is it that we worry that we aren’t good enough? I began to realize like never before that a worried life is not a surrendered life. Worry steals joy, peace and my greatnesss – the very greatness God created me for. Sometimes it takes a special friend or mentor who is walking a truly surrendered life to remind us of who we really are and who we belong to – to remind us we were great all along.
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So, our lives don’t always end up looking like our dreams that we had as small children, right? Life sure can throw curveballs!
I mean, if you had asked me as an 8 year old, where I would be in my mid 40’s I would NEVER have told you that I would be a divorced, single mom of 3 teenagers. In fact, that kind of thought wouldn’t have even been an option in my mind. However, like most of you know, life throws us some curve balls from time to time.
One of the major curve balls I experienced was after 19 years of marriage; my high school sweetheart/husband looked me in the eyes and said, “ I no longer choose you. I want a divorce.” In that moment I wanted to crumble to the ground and disappear, however, for the sake of my children, I knew I had to be strong. So, I decided, ok, if this is happening, I’m going to have to turn into Wonder Woman – nerves of steel, able to carry the world on my shoulders – in order to keep life moving forward for my kids. My plan worked great for a while. People who knew me would say things like “ wow, you are so strong,” “ I could never handle this as well as you are, how are you doing it?” On the outside I was focused, determined, and unaffected by the curve ball life had just thrown me. My kids didn’t see me cry and they saw mom doing her best to make life as good as she could for them.
Then, I met some wonderfully amazing people at The Journey Training, who challenged me to see relationships, my life, and myself from a different viewpoint.
At the Journey Training, they created a safe place for me and gave me full permission to feel. They had shown me that life is not meant to be done alone and that its highly important to be real with others.
They share a quote by Walt Anderson; “ We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone – but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.”
Because of the curve ball life had thrown me, I had stopped trusting and had lost my love and joy for life. I thought I was showing my kids how to be strong and move on but in reality I was modeling how to hide your emotions and be fake.
I decided to take the new knowledge and tools that the Journey Training provided me and make a change in my life. I opened up and was real with some awesome people who truly cared about me. This reopened my heart to the joy and love for life. I also realized that I needed to implement these tools with my kids in order to help them.
Now, as a parent, I don’t share everything with my kids because they don’t need to shoulder adult responsibilities. However, I was able to open up and be real with them about what was happening in our lives and how I felt at times. By being vulnerable and real with them, it gave them the opportunity to trust me even more and to find their voices to share with me what they were feeling. It brought us closer together as a family and I looked like Wonder Woman to my kids while still being as vulnerable as a lobster in my time of growth and adjustment.
When we try to be the super hero, we shut others out and isolate ourselves. When we choose to be vulnerable and real and trust others, we allow for them to step into their amazing vulnerable selves and we can do this thing called life together. Only then are we open to fully feeling and experiencing the great love and joy our Creator truly desires for us in life.
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