Do you have ideas?
The most fragile ideas are the new ideas you have about yourself.
These are the ideas you have about who you are becoming…but you’re not quite there yet.
Maybe you want to draw cleaner work/life boundaries.
Maybe you want to commit to a 3-5 day per week workout practice.
Maybe you want to see yourself as a full-time business owner.
Maybe you want to see yourself as sexy and intimately connected with your partner.
New ideas and practices take time to nurture.
I like to imagine these new things as a sprout.
A tiny sprout might find rain too wet.
The sun is too bright.
The wind is simply too windy, thank you very much.
Oh, that dear tender sprout.
That sprout doesn’t necessarily need protection.
It needs understanding.
For a tender green sprout, the elements are jarring.
So it might feel extra sensitive to feedback when you tell your mother-in-law that, no, you will not be hosting Christmas.
Or when you ask someone to work with you in your new business.
You understand that muscles in your body are tender when they’ve been asked to do something that they haven’t done in awhile (or ever!).
Sometimes we are surprised that our “choice” muscles might also feel clumsy and tender.
Here are my less stress, more fun suggestions for nurturing the sprouts of change in your life:
- Use a mental image like this one of the sprout in weather. Imagine your seed sprouting, then getting taller, stronger.
- When you notice the “too much, too much!” feelings and thoughts, remind yourself of why you decided to plant this seed in the first place.
- Expect discomfort! We know this on an intellectual, logical level, and yet it shocks us when our nervous system protests the discomfort.
Every wonderful thing in your life started as a seed.
A possibility.
Few of us inherit stable, healthy oak trees of bounty and abundance.
Nurture your seed.
And if it gets stepped on, plant again.
Repeat.
Water with gratitude for your commitment.
Compost with inspiration.
Imagine your harvest.
Repeat.
You have permission to plant a garden of new ideas, habits, behaviors and commitments anytime you wish!
P.S. I invite you to fall in love with my podcast, “Less Stress, More Fun.” Subscribe today! Each week’s episodes are short (14-18 mins, on average), smart (lots of research) and fun (especially if you love 80s music).
