Drawing Your Line in the Sand
I’d finally made time to sit on my meditation cushion and take some time for myself. It was Monday morning, and my head was spinning.
I felt tired and sluggish, but also weirdly wired. Jumbly.
In my best case scenario, I always have time in the morning for myself. Maybe it’s to journal, to stretch, to pull a card and contemplate a question. And sometimes, when I really need stillness, I sit on my cushion or my mat, and just breathe.
This time around, I’d spent the entire time wandering from anxious thought to anxious thought. I felt pulled in every direction, and stressed:
Stressed about money, about my kiddo, about my business, about my health, about the world. You name it, I had a thought about it that morning.
As my timer buzzed and my meditation session ended, I felt no different. Still agitated, still all over the place.
I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was a book on the shelf next to me: “We Should All Be Millionaires” by Rachel Rodgers.
“I am stressed about money,” I thought. “Maybe Rachel has some wisdom for me.”
Without thinking about it, I closed my eyes, opened the book, and placed my pointer finger down. The sentence underneath my finger read:
“Action Step: Choose one thing you are done tolerating, set a boundary, and then communicate that boundary to whoever needs to know.”
Try This Out
I instantly knew this was the message I’d be searching for that morning. I pulled out my journal and wrote:
“What am I done tolerating?”
Turns out, a lot. Words poured out of me and onto the page. And here’s what I noticed:
Most of my answers were about me.
My thoughts, my anxieties, my doubts.
The moments where I second-guessed myself, or allowed myself to accept less than what I knew I deserved.
The places in my life and my business where I hedged, where I stopped thisshort of committing to what I knew I wanted.
In that instant, I saw so clearly that I’m tolerating a lot – from ME! And I am done.
Enough hemming and hawing. Enough doubting what’s “right” or questioning if something will work.
I picked up my pen, circled one of the items in my list, and made a promise to myself: “I’m done.”
So now, of course, it’s your turn.
Today, spend some time with Rachel’s quote and ask yourself:
What am I tolerating? Where in my life am I accepting it ‘as is’?
What am I ready to be done with?
What’s the boundary, the line in the sand, I’m no longer willing to cross?
And who needs to know?
It might just be you!
What To Do Next
One of the themes this week – across all of my coaching conversations, podcast interviews, and networking meetings – was self-trust.
How do we learn to trust ourselves? To trust that we know what’s right for our path, that we can follow through on our dreams, and that we’ll be ok if we falter?
To trust that if we set a boundary that matters to us – we’ll keep it?
The short answer is: we practice.
If you’re ready to practice, I have a few suggestions:
Start small: find one tiny decision or action (as low stakes as possible) that feels right or aligned, and take it. My favorite example is paying attention to what you actually want to eat for breakfast – and give it to yourself.
Tune in: my journaling practice has been instrumental in helping me learn to listen to my inner voice, which is a key component of self-trust. If you’re looking for a system to help you get started, try out “100 Days of Designing My Life: The Reflection Journal.”
Get support: I have one spot available for a new coaching client this spring – is it you?
Learn more about the ways I can guide you on your self-trust journey, and reach out if you have any questions!
Onward,
