The other day on my Bad Kitty fanpage, I posted a quote from Helen Keller “When one door closes, another one opens. But often we look so long, so regretfully, upon the closed door that we fail to see the one that has opened for us.”
I’m sure I’m not alone in my feeling that sometimes I have no idea what I’m doing! Some days it feels nearly paralyzing. “What’s next?” “I think I need to do (fill in the blank) but I’m not sure how.” “Am I doing the right thing?” “Is this the right path?” “Is it time to change direction?” “Is it time to give up and move on?”
I go through times when there are days – sometimes several days strung together – where I have no ambition because I simply don’t know what to do. I get into a funk, I don’t want to do anything except sit on the couch and disappear into some fantasy TV land. Or play Angry Birds for hours. Going out seems like a chore. Nothing I like to do seems to have any power to pull me out. Been there?
Then, suddenly, out of nowhere comes an event or person to point the way.
Recently I’ve been feeling lost. I love what I do and yet it didn’t feel like I was making much of an impact. Doing classes for 6 people or having to cancel classes due to lack of enrollment was taking it’s toll. I thought that maybe I needed to shift direction. Or expand my audience. Or *gasp* just work for someone else. That one gives me chills! And not the good kind.
Last week I was leaving for San Diego. It should have been an exciting time. I was going for the launch of my best seller Living Proof – Celebrating the Gifts that Come Wrapped In Sandpaper where I would meet a number of the other authors, reconnect with Lisa Nichols and Susie Carder, attend Speak and Write to Make Millions and enjoy the beauty of California after a rough Alberta winter. There wasn’t much excitement in me. I was going out of commitment with very little joy.
When I got there I wasn’t all that thrilled despite the wonderful scenery, weather and energy. Then I went to the book launch. Much to my surprise one of the young women who came to my break out session when I did Ignite Your Spark in Salt Lake City last year with Lisa as the keynote speaker was there! She was still so excited about everything she had learned with me and was thrilled to introduce me to her sister who had been dying to meet me because of all she’d heard.
Wow, a year later. Confirmation that what I do truly makes an impact on women’s lives.
The next day at the course I had a breakdown and a break through. I realized that all the talk I’ve been doing about creating systems – and not doing them – was responsible for keeping my business – and my impact and by extension me – small. In order to affect hundreds, even thousands of women as I had that young woman at the launch like I say I do, something has to change.
A door opened. A coaching program specifically for speakers by speakers to build your platform, your offerings and your SYSTEMS. OMG – just what I need. Hello door! Not only was the door open, it was right in my path. I’ve been on the right path for me all this time, things were simply waiting for me to be in the right place in the right frame of mind in order to see what I needed to see as far as the next door to pass through. Granted, it’s a pricey door, and I knew I needed to grab it and know that with commitment the chips will fall into place to pay for it all the same.
How many times in your life have you waited for a door? Maybe it’s been there all the time, the neon sign just wasn’t illuminated yet. Be patient. It will reveal itself. Be true to what you know is right for you even in the low times and the foggy moments. Eventually things will clear and you’ll be able to move forward through that door.
You may need to take a step to one side sometimes as there may be a closed door right beside the open one. I’ve been in the same coaching program for years and although I love the people and my coach, that door is closing and I needed to step over to the side to see the one that was now wide open.
Follow your hearts, kitties, they will lead you through the dark and gloomy times. There will be a light sooner rather than later. Follow it and trust, even when it’s scary and expensive. You’ve been brought to this place for a reason. Don’t give up now!
Be Beautiful, Be YOU and walk through the doors specifically designed for you on your journey.
Hugs, Christie