Picture this: it’s Sunday and you’ve just come to the end of your 6 and (almost) 2 year old’s birthday party over the weekend. Your family made the 4 hour trip down for one night so you’re feeling tired (but very happy to have spent time with them) from staying up a little later than usual. Overall you’re feeling satisfied that your babies enjoyed themselves, you got to see family for the first time in a few months, and now you’re ready to enjoy a slow, easy Sunday with at least 6 cups of emotional support tea whilst you do your Sunday rest routine for the week ahead.
Instead, you wake up up to the sound of your husband throwing up a kidney. He’s caught a stomach bug, and you know instantly that you’re now going to have to disinfect the entire house, do the big food shop, keep the kids alive and somewhat emotionally regulated - yourself. Whilst working on your business and your regular list of things. Those cups of emotional support tea just got upped to 10 - minimum.
Side note: I swear all of that is a lot easier to do when you don’t have the fresh disappointment of realising you’re running solo.
Anyway, back to the point of why I’m telling this story in this weeks What Would Maria Do newsletter.
Life has a way of life-ing.
It has a way of getting in the way of the things we want and need.
I could have thought that the universe hated me this morning. Like whyyyyyy? Why would a whole new challenge come at me right now? When I’m already feeling like I’ve got nothing else to give?
Well, here’s why it happens.
It’s there to show you that maybe there’s another way you could do things.
Instead of getting pissed off, deflated or feeling like there’s no point in trying to do the things you want like build a business or even just read a few chapters of your kindle between life’s chaos; try to see it as an opportunity.
Realise that if you repeatedly come up against the same challenge (no time, energy, etc etc) over and over again…maybe it’s time to try something new.
The definition if insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting different results.
It’s also about realising that life WILL get in the way when you’re least expecting it to. The kids will get 13 stomach bugs a week, your energy will soar and then dip at various times in your cycle, your partner will have their own schedule. Literally, whatever situation you feel like you keep coming up against as of late, I want you to start seeing it differently and ask yourself this one question:
How can I get creative with this situation?
Stop focusing on what you don’t have and look at what you DO. It might not be much, but you can do figure out a way to work smarter with it.
So today, when my husband was bed bound and I still have everything to do, I didn’t let my frustration be taken out on my kids. I asked myself how I could get creative with today so that I could keep my kids happy, myself happy, and still show up for the things I want most - like sending this newsletter because it’s a promise I made to myself to send it every Sunday. I haven’t always managed to do it (it’s kinda like a Monday newsletter most weeks), but I know that the frustration I feel when I don’t do it is a lot worse than anything else.
What goals do you have for yourself and your life?
What promises are you keeping or breaking because life happened?
Trust me, when you need to rest - then rest.
But if it’s something that keeps happening, please ask yourself how you can work smarter, not harder. You might just find that the challenges you face on the daily, are actually trying to steer you towards the things that’s about to change your whole fucking life.
Maria x
P.s let’s chat about it in my subs chat below!
P.p.s let’s do a quick card pull to help you with any challenges you’re navigating before I go.
This card is a reminder that if you’ve been doing things lately that feel like a should do i.e I should offer X service, or do X for that person - even though it’s like an uphill struggle for you to find the energy to do it, then it’s always going to end in burn out. You’ve spent far too long saying yes to things that should have been a clear no from day 1; but hey, it’s paying the bills, right?
I get it, I really do.
It’s a fine balance between paying your bills and actually working on things that you’re so lit up by - that feel like they’re giving you MORE energy by working on them.
I want you to think of a few things before bed tonight - and over the next few days:
What do you really love?
What do you dream about for your life?
When you think about the actions you take every day, do any of them contribute towards those things? Or do they take you further away from it?
The common denominator in every shitty situation that life throws our way? It’s us. It’s our reactions to them.
We can CHOOSE a different way.
We can CHOOSE to make a change at any point.
We CHOOSE to create the reality we want to live in AND the one we don’t by our actions.
Which life and business are you building with your actions? Take this as your sign to start getting more creative now.
This is your last chance to join me in Reinvent, where we’ll be making all of this change a reality this week.