Hi guys! Welcome to episode 527 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast. I am just coming off of a beautiful two week vacation sailing in the caravan. It’s been spectacular. I feel refreshed. We spent two solid weeks with six of our very best friends are like family to us and we’re so fortunate to have them, so I’m coming back feeling refreshed and Ready to hit the ground running for whatever’s next. Also ready to get back in my routine of exercise and yoga and eating clean. We ate pretty clean but we definitely had more alcohol and sugar than we would at home so it’s good to get back to a routine. 2 weeks is a long time, we are always sad to see that trip end but also at the same time happy to be back home with our boys and our normal life.
If you’ve been listening for a while, you have heard me talk about Brooke Castillo. She’s the CEO of or she’s the founder actually of the life coach school where I got my life coach certification I’m not actually practicing life coaching, but I went through it as a way to be able to be more effective really on this podcast so Brooke has played a big role in my journey to being aware of my thoughts and not letting my circumstances Control me and all of the things that I talk about on this on this podcast so it’d been a minute since I listened to her podcast because the last year or so she kind of stepped away and was letting other people do her podcast and it just didn’t speak to me the same way so I thought oh I wonder what Brooke‘s up to so I went back to the podcast and it happened to be Ironically her very last one so she is not going to continue the podcast any longer. She said she’s gonna keep it open. She might come on sporadically and talk but it will no longer be published regularly. My gut sort of knew that was coming, but even so, there was a feeling of intense sadness for me like it was a gut punch and I thought wow that’s interesting. How Hard I took that Im happy for her because I know this is just another stage in her life that she’s excited, but I really enjoy listening to her as a human being and her advice was always so good. But if Brooke taught me anything it’s that I don’t need her in my life to be OK. I’m OK with myself regardless of what’s going on around me regardless of what ends, I’m gonna be just fine.
It did bring up a lot of feelings though, it reminded me of the time years ago. I had a therapist that I had been to see, I had some things I was going through and I thought a therapist would help and that was before my life coaching and all of that that I actually think life coaches are better than therapist, but not if you get a good one, and I had a good one. The reason why this brought that up for me is because at one point someone asked me for a referral for a therapist and I thought about Dr Kelman because she was so good and I was talking to Eric about it and he said hey why it’s been a minute why don’t you check and see that she’s still practicing so when I went to look her up. It turns out She had died of brain cancer fairly quickly and that also hit me like a gut punch. I’m not a big cry and I cried for probably 10 minutes after I found that out. I looked at her funeral online. They had streamed it online because she had impacted so many people so I watched the funeral and it did give me some closure, but I also took that as a gut punch sometimes when things end or relationships and people die, there is an overwhelming sadness, which is perfectly human perfectly normal and sometimes our thoughts are the worst like questioning how we are going to make it, spreading gloom and doom in our own mind, acting as if we aren’t going to be able to make it because of this ending or this person dying. But if both of these women who were pivotal in my life taught me anything it’s that I am strong enough to handle anything and be ok while doing it. I can be sad and be OK, I can be heartbroken and be ok, I can be angry and be ok all at the same time. Things can end, it can be awful and you’re gonna be just fine too.
Strongest thing someone can do for you is to remind you that you aren’t broken and there’s nothing permanently wrong with you. You may be having a moment, sure, but there’s an equal force inside of you that knows you’re gonna get through it and you don’t need someone else’s permission to do that. We are resilient just like trees. They bend and go through different phases, survive hard things and they make look a little different for it, but there they are still standing, looking beautiful in the spring. You were made perfectly and you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. Nothing has gone wrong. You are gonna be ok as long as you allow yourself to be.
In life so many things end. Relationships, jobs, the life of someone we love. We have friends who have had life long careers and are now retiring and at first it’s hard but at the same time it can be an exciting beginning of a new chapter. It really depends on how you color it in your mind. Is it dark and drab or is it vibrant and colorful. It really is all about how you see it.
Our niece is graduating high school this year. Big change. She has been a cheerleader since she was a little girl but she won’t be cheering in college, it wasn’t an option for the school she chose. She gets to color that however she wants. Fortunately she’s excited for what’s to come even though it will look very different than what has been. That is what life is all about. New beginnings and endings are gonna happen until our life is over. So we may as well intentionally decide what we are gonna make them mean.
The interesting thing for me is that both of the women I talked about earlier Brooke Castillo and Dr Kelman, played a pivotal role in one area. Reminding me that I am just fine as a human being. There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m not broken and I don’t need their permission or anyone else’s to make my own decisions. I love them for that. I decide how I’m going to color the circumstances around me. I am the creator of my own life, not the victim of it.
My challenge to you today is to notice the language you use and the thoughts you have when change happens, are you a “when one door closes, another opens” kind of person or a “I’ll never recover from this” kind of person. One of those leads to distraught and one of those leads to hope. I know where I want to live and that’s in a world where I always leave hope as the option. My challenge is for you to do the same. Share this with 3 people who may have some changes going on. I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days.
