Clarity Blog
Musings from My Desk
Like, if someone else was watching you move through your day like a movie — what would they say about you? What would they think? What would they feel? How would they describe you to a friend?
I’m in the middle of an ongoing conversation with someone about the words we choose to describe things.
Are the words you’re choosing conveying what you mean?
Are the sentences you string together telling the story you want to tell in the way you want to tell it?
Anxiety on the other hand, for me, is scary and spiky. Pointy and sharp in most areas and really high and steep in others. Like a rollercoaster (which I do not like) with very uncomfortable seat backs that dig into my spine and backs of my legs.
And like old friends can do, anxiety and I are going on 15 years together, it reminds me what is and isn’t for me. Even when the way they say it can be annoying and predictable, they mean well.
Anxiety and grief know me and I know them. Sometimes they walk hand in hand. Sometimes they jump out of the bushes alone.
You know the saying "doctors need doctors."
"We are so good at facilitating community organizers and volunteers, but it's clear we are not equipped to facilitate each other."
A couple organizations I'm talking to right now about have said this to me. I say it all the time too. This is completely normal!
Coaches need coaches. Healers need healers. Facilitators need facilitators. Hair dressers need hair dressers. Doctors need doctors.
Because having a facilitator guide difficult conversations, as well as strategic conversations, team building, board and strategic planning retreats is, in my expert opinion, the best investment of your team's time and organization's resources, invest the time to find a facilitator.
A friend shared recently that her organization went on a staff retreat that was just...okay.
They barely scratched the surface.
They didn't develop any plans or even a short to-do list to move ideas that emerged forward.
They didn't go deep on any of the topics.
Why did it go this way?
Everyone carved out the time to be there. They did it offsite.
There was some planning involved for sure.
But it was just meh.
Time is the strangest things... it feels like more than a few days ago that the inspiration struck me ️yet, that's all it's been.
I'm curious, have you spent time with what you've believed was possible and/or are dreaming into for 2023?
Don't get me wrong, it is 2022 — I don't want you to get caught up in the future.
There is no greater medicine for a future you dream of than to be here now.
It’s important to understand where you shine so you can spend as much time there as absolutely possible.
One of the biggest challenges with being human is the sense of responsibility to do all the things — even if we don’t shine there or simply don’t like those things.
Here's the question to ask: How important is this thing to the future I’m creating?
What got you here won’t get you there.
