Time...
Is it just me, or did we all think our parents were insane when they told us that time goes faster and faster as you grow older? WOW were they right!
This time of year, it's so easy to look back and reflect on lazy summer days. Didn't summer seem to last forever?
Remember being BORED? HA What a concept! Can you remember the last time you were bored?
As women entrepreneurs, we are always seeking better time management skills, training and techniques. Trying to squeeze an extra hour or two into any given day.
I posit that a large contributor to the phenomenon of time moving ever faster is our lack of ability to be present in the moment. We are always thinking about the next thing on the list, and the more we do that, the faster time goes. Certainly this isn't true 100% of the time, sometimes things that are magical just go by in a flash despite being fully present - like your wedding day, or Christmas morning. I think that's part of the magic maybe :)
My wish for you today, is that you be fully present in today. Today is the only day that we have. There are no guarantees. As a girl who was struck by a car as a pedestrian not once, but twice in my grade school years I can positively say that any one of us can step off of a curb and be hit by a car or a bus. There are no guarantees.
It's still important to have a schedule and a plan and all of those things. But take some time to breathe in the space you're in and enjoy today.
It's the only day we have!
Kind of hard to believe that the first day of summer is actually tomorrow. It feels like it's been summer for weeks already! I feel like I win some huge prize every day the weather man overestimated our top temps for the day.
We had some panic over the weekend as the air conditioning in my truck went kaput Thursday afternoon, and being married to your auto mechanic, who also happens to be an airline pilot gone for 4 days during which you have an event to be at where you are trying to look like a professional definitely cranked my stress meter (and my cranky meter for that matter) up to 11.
My poor husband who is unaccustomed to a cranky wife was trying to talk me out of my ire Friday night and I was having none of it. I felt like I deserved to be angry and I wanted to be angry and stay angry.
My event was a 45 minute to an hour drive away, traffic dependent, and I was anticipating driving with all the windows down in the truck and sweating and being miserable before the event even started.
I was so thankful for my husband's tough love and lack of empathy. I know, that sounds crazy, but he refused to let me wallow. I was laying on the couch, snuggled with our sweet dog, and just stewing in my own anger. And he knew that was not going to make anything better. He counseled me to get up off of the couch and do something fun, like play with our awesome puppy (that's him there, and he has recently earned novice, intermediate and advanced tricks certifications) :) and practice some of his new tricks or play with his fun toys. AND he made me smile and even laugh before he hung up the phone.
I'm so thankful for him! I woke up Saturday morning and it was lovely. I had the back window open and didn't need to roll down the windows at all. I was not sweaty or disheveled when I arrived at my event. And the event, which was outdoors all day and wonderful, was shady and breezy and comfortable despite the weather man's threats.
I rarely succumb to those horrors they call worry or anticipated bad news.
We all need a best friend like that sometimes. Someone who won't let us wallow. We think we want a friend to just listen and tell us we're right and we should be mad and stay mad and they'll hang out and be mad with us. Who is that serving?
When we do that, we feel our stress levels go down half a point, maybe a point, just by the sheer fact that we've shared our burden with someone else. But think about what we're doing. That girlfriend, mother, sister that you shared with ... didn't she probably have her own stuff to think about?
As women, we're amazing listeners. We have broad shoulders and we can always take on 1 more burden. Until we can't. Let's not tempt that fate.
I hope you have a best friend like mine, who will quietly listen until you are done ranting and then tell you in no uncertain terms to knock it off. Because you should, and you know you should.
And if you don't I'll be that friend today. If you find yourself stewing about something that you can do nothing to change. Take the advice I took. Find a reason to smile, laugh even. Do something that brings you joy.
It's summer. We need to keep cool in more ways than one, don't we?
Let your smile change the world. Don't let the world change your smile.
Cheers!
