It’s the first week of February. Just enough time has passed for most New Year’s resolutions to have been conveniently forgotten until next year. It's a fitting time to move our thoughts past the Super Bowl Half-Time Show to Love, Chocolate, Valentine’s Day, Black History Month, President’s Day and the potential of spring. It’s as if a machine pulls our collective strings like puppets in a play. I’ve always been a girl that likes to party and celebrate, and I’m definitely a fan of any distraction to get me through the winter. However, there are times when (if I sit still long enough) I wonder if these activities are genuine entertainment and celebration or just a way to distract from the realities of life. Remember the Wizard of Oz? “Don’t look behind the curtain.”
I think most people are on a quest for purpose. I know I am. The book, The Purpose-Driven Life by Pastor Rick Warren has sold over 30 million copies, and people have purchased more than 10 million copies of the purpose-focused job-hunting guide, What Color is Your Parachute? The search for meaning seems just about as old as civilization. Perhaps the first purpose-focused text was the ancient holy scriptures. Religion is definitely one of the ways we answer this yearning – for some we don’t need a purpose aside from the love of God.
On New Year’s Eve I was full of hope as so many of us are. I set a one word intention for 2020: FIRE, and created the acronym – Fierce Inspired Raw Energy – to capture my joy and enthusiasm for my work as a writer, self-actualization coach and yogi in 2020 and beyond. My skin gets a tingle just putting the words on paper, but the reality is I had to search my notes to find my acronym again. Ugh! As much as my intention began with power, in the 36 days since the start of the year I’ve dealt with more sickness in my family than I care to admit, two emergency trips and a host of text messages and phone calls. In other words, life happened. Again.
Life happens to all us. We make plans in a straight line from point A to point B, but the reality is most journeys are not point-to-point. There are bathroom breaks and detours. We may try a short-cut only to end up on a more winding road. We may take a wrong turn and find we have to backtrack. Sometimes we find ourselves far off course and only a saving grace sets us straight. While efficiency has its place, I think the beauty is in the detours. Those “wrong” turns often open our eyes to what would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Perhaps we grow our resilience bending with the winding road, foster our patience and stir up our motivation to get back on course. We learn to start over.
This is a great time of year to reassess those January goals. Were they realistic? Are you making progress? Are you being kind to yourself? Have you learned at the detour? Have you leaned into the bend in the road? Do you need to start over?
Wherever you are in your journey, know that it’s okay. Life happens. There’s beauty in the detours, it’s never too late to start over, and I’m still here bringing fierce, inspired, raw energy!
I wish you all Freedom, Alignment and Effortless Abundance!
Trish
P.S. This blog is a day late because I am on an unexpected trip. In other words, life happened. The photo is the amazing sunset from Monday. Mother Nature was putting on a show. It seemed like the perfect backdrop for my FIRE acronym – Fierce, Inspired, Raw Energy. Yes, please. If you’d like to join me to soak up some deep dreaming and goal-setting, meet me at Tassili’s on March 7th for my “Courage to Dream” Mini-Retreat and Ghana fundraiser. Only $99. Details at https://honeybutterflyz.com/about
