“How’s the project “The Year When Everything Changed” going to impact your life?” my friend and colleague Christine asked me.
In the beginning it felt good (and easy) to talk about this.
At the start of September 2023 I launched the project “The Year When Everything Changed”. The result of these next 12 months will mean I am being interviewed about my thriving community of Wiseacious Women.
I will be talking about the first published book and about the second one soon to be released. My popular podcast and blog will naturally come into the conversation too.
Above all, people will sense my strength, confidence and my immense, enriching energy. They would admire me for no longer turning the light down on my vibrancy and for achieving what I had set out to do 12 months previously:
Here is a page from my journal listing the dreams I am realising.
This last piece is important because I was proud of my position and my salary as a school principal when I burned out spectacularly 9 years ago.
Creating the project “The Year When Everything Changed” is my way of closing that chapter of my life and opening a new one filled with new wealth and prosperity.
By now I had a lump in my throat from saying this out loud.
What got the tears flowing was Christine’s next question:
What happened that made you decide that this specific year will change something, because I guess this isn’t the first time that you have set new goals for yourself?
What happened was twofold.
One was painful. The other was liberating.
My sister and I had been exchanging emails every Sunday since the beginning of the year. In these emails we would reflect on the week past and set new intentions for the coming week.
By mid-July I was writing to her telling her I was feeling lost and struggling. I had not made the changes that I actually wanted to make. I felt ashamed and frustrated.
I know I’m brilliant, but I was just not doing what I needed to do, and I was scared.
It was what my inner voice was already whispering to me. My sister just made 100% sure I wasn’t missing the message. And I love her for that.
She wrote two quotes:
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it“. Thoreau
“Everyone must choose one of two pains: The pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” J. Rohn
She went on to write:
If anything, focus on the concept of regret, and its opposite – satisfaction. If you truly want to achieve something, you will be willing to invest your time in it, and you will have no regrets about doing it. It will give you satisfaction. Discipline doesn’t even have to enter the discussion.
And yes, Thoreau’s quote can be read that there is a price to be paid, but really it is pointing out the transactional nature of achieving anything. For anything to change and grow, you need to give something. The currency of that can be time, effort, ideas, and heart. When it is something you want, or feel passionate about, it is a positive transaction.
This was a message with two layers of pain:
I could also see that I was missing out on the positive transaction that I knew deep down was possible.
I was gutted.
And it made me take action:
At the same time I was going through this, I was working with the same colleague, Christine, on my personal branding.
“It’s hard to read the label when you’re inside the bottle” (source unknown)
Working with someone else on my personal branding made it possible to see myself clearly.
All the pieces fell into place so I now know how to communicate clearly to the world who I am.
I can feel my personal brand in everything I do.
I’ve just finished editing my second podcast episode where I took you wild swimming with me and talked about making change happen.
It felt so right because I have finally got the balance right.
It’s way easier for me to overcome my fear of “will people like it or even watch it?” because my desire to get my message out there is greater.
And the way I am doing it is so me.
I am me, in full vibrant colour and expansive energy. And I am making change happen.
Do you have things you want to change in your life?
Let the next 12 months be YOUR ““The Year When Everything Changed”.
Join me in the Wiseacious Women COMMUNITY and get support.
Watch and listen to the PODCAST.
And continue to read the BLOG.
By your side, Philippa