Happy Birth Day
Birthday's, New Year's Eve and a Can of Cranberry Sauce
It's my 58th birthday today (geez didn't I just turn 21?). That being said, I was thinking that in the course of a year, most of us tend to focus on two specific yearly occasions to take pause and self-reflect, impose some degree to self-judgment and look toward creating some form of change - New Year's Eve and our birthday. Why is that? It's the same question I ask around Thanksgiving time when I look forward to eating cranberry sauce with my turkey. I mean, I can choose to buy cranberry sauce any day of the year. I eat turkey all the time. Why is it that cranberry sauce (for me) is tucked away and hidden from my weekly meal planning until the last week of November when there's suddenly a big bird on a platter sitting on my table? It's silly. But I, like probably many other people, bought into the belief that cranberry sauce is eaten at Thanksgiving time, and usually only then. I created a habit around that belief. I also realized that I created a habit around (only) using New Year's Eve and my birthday to do a quasi mini-evaluation of what's working, what's not, and what I want or don't want, to do about it. Yes, chronologically I become a year older. That is a fact. But every day is a birth day. Each day is a fresh start. It's like a blanket of fresh snow. You haven't stepped foot in it yet. It's a clean slate. Each day is a do-over. Each day we are gifted a new beginning. Each day we are taught a lesson, sometimes through conflict, through failure, through a win, that only takes us closer to being our best Self when tomorrow comes.
Birth Day Reflection
Today I am grateful for so much. I am making a written list. There's power in seeing your gratitude in black and white. On that list, are all the things that are going well. That serves me and brings me joy. Also on my list are all the things when I was 57 that didn't work. That I wasn't successful in. Whether in my personal life or my business life, From that list, I'm going to spend some time replaying some of those events that were in my control and reflect on how I would like to have handled them. How I would have liked to show up with my employee, child, friend, doorman or life partner during times of chaos or conflict - differently than before. Why? So that at 58 I will be smarter and wiser to make a better choice to show up differently. Why? Because do-overs happen all the time. They are a given. What worked and what I am grateful for are my gifts today. What didn't work and those lessons I can choose to learn if I allow myself, those are my gifts today as well. Happy Birthday to me AND Happy birth day to you! What gift can you bring in from yesterday that will help you show up as your best YOU today? For me? I'm going to eat 2 big slices of chocolate cake, choose not to create any judgment around it, and therefore allow myself to feel fully joyful today while with my friends and family. Make it a fantastic week ahead. Do you want to celebrate your birth day by putting the Self-doubt, second-guessing, overthinking, perfectionistic thought habits you've created over time, to bed? I've got a 30-minute MY BIRTH DAY GIFT TO YOU, coaching call with your name on it! Stop holding yourself back and step into.