On My Heart: Remember Who You Are
Aug 24, 2020
It's been five months of the craziness with one thing piled onto the next. I've coped well and not so well in it all. The healthy coping came in the writing of my book. I'm proud of what I created. It makes me smile. I'm excited about what I will share with you this fall. I thought I had dealing with the world cased.
Then George Floyd's murder happened and dredged up racism trauma, collective grief, and my own journey as a woman of color, piled on top of pandemic uncertainty. It was a lot, and the unhealthy coping crept in.
We all have ways we cope when it's all too much. Mine causes me to isolate myself, tell stories about who and what is against me, be overly critical of myself, and (at its worst) take those feeling out on my body. It's something I've experienced before but I thought I'd conquered.
This weekend on my home Fall Sabbatical - the time I take twice per year for a personal growth reset with a process I've used for decades - I saw, admitted and accepted that I was right back there.
The fantastic thing about giving yourself space to remember who you are is that you can summon the confidence you used in the past. I was back there, but I wasn't that old-Michele. I've evolved, which allowed me to remember that I’ve conquered those past sad times. Who I am is a conquerer.
I recalled what I used and what worked for new inner-strength. I made a plan based on it. This resilience came from no outside force or influence, no inspo-post or collective boost. It came from me, myself and I.
Life has been heavy in the last five months. I've taken it out on myself, trying to feel better. Maybe you've done the same a time or two. It's ok. I want you to know that you can also transform how you cope. It's a decision made more swiftly when you have tools. "I drink my own kool-aid," and I love it when my tools work for my own life.
I am even more excited about what I've created, and I'll be in a beautiful new mindset to receive all that comes next.
You have this power too. It starts with remembering who you are. When was the last time you took some good, valuable time to discover who that is?
