Posts tagged with “Possibilities”
How Grieving a Dream’s Loss Built Hope for a New Life
“Our painful experiences aren’t a liability—they’re a gift. They give us perspective and meaning, an opportunity to find our unique purpose and our strength.” –Dr. Edith Eger, The Choice: Embrace the Possible
The loss of an unrealized dream sent me spiraling down, down into the darkness. A darkness filled with a despair and hopelessness that I had not known before.
It was safer and more comfortable for me to attribute all my grief to losing a loving mother-in-law suddenly in the beginning of 2023. Her abrupt absence not only in my life but also in my husband’s and daughter’s lives …
5 Tips for Updating Your Career and Life to Match Who You Are Now
“All you’re going to lose is what was built for a person you no longer are.” ~Brianna Wiest
I’ll admit it. I stayed in a failed marriage for five years past its expiration date. I got especially good at faking smiles in public and relegating myself to my laptop most evenings.
I also sentenced myself to a career that stopped “lighting me up” about a decade before I was ready to wave the white flag of surrender. As in my marriage, I refused to believe its end for ages and tried everything I could think of to keep this dying …
4 Things to Try When You Want Change but Don’t Know What to Do
“If you get stuck, draw with a different pen. Change your tools; it may free your thinking.” ~Paul Arden
For a year and a half, I could feel a career shift coming. I had worked hard to cultivate a career I loved, but I began feeling disconnected from my work. The meaning I had originally felt from it was no longer there. Each time I started a new project, I felt tired and unmotivated.
At first, I thought it might be burnout. So I took a few weeks off to see if I could reset myself into feeling excited about …
5 Ways to Explore the World and Feel Excited About Life
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~Mark Twain
In 2022, I wanted to quit my job and didn’t know why. I was about to embark on a six-week trip to a country I’d always wanted to visit—New Zealand—to work in sports TV production. I loved the people I worked with, the company I worked for, and the buzz I got from live TV. …
How Releasing Control Opened Me Up to a Limitless Life
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” ~Richard Bach
I have always wanted to create a family.
As a child, I lovingly cared for my dolls and fell head over heels for my college boyfriend. Kneeling before me with a ring, he said, “I want you to be the mother of our children.” I swooned as we walked down the aisle at the tender age of twenty-two, convinced I was set for life. I had the husband, and I would have the family.
I entered into our marriage with the expectation and security …
A Simple Plan to Overcome Self-Doubt and Do What You Want to Do
“Don’t let others tell you what you can’t do. Don’t let the limitations of others limit your vision. If you can remove your self-doubt and believe in yourself, you can achieve what you never thought possible.” ~Roy T. Bennett
Ahh yes, self-doubt. Something that affects every single one of us at different times and at different magnitudes—even those that seem supremely confident.
Why do so many of us experience self-doubt, and how can we overcome it?
On a personal note, I can tell you my self-doubt comes any time I am trying something new. I’ve learned over the years …
How I Turned My Disability into Desirability with a Simple Perspective Change
“Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities.” ~Terry Josephson
I was affected by the deadly poliovirus when I was six months old. Most people infected with it die. Even today, there is no cure for it. I miraculously survived, but lost my ability to walk.
During the first twenty years of my life, I evolved through crawling on the floor, lifting my leg with my hands, wearing prosthetics, using canes, and finally learning to walk, painfully, with crutches. As I grew up, I experienced post-polio syndrome, which weakened the other parts of my body.…
How Curiosity Can Improve Your Relationships and Your Life
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” ~Albert Einstein
When speaking to a parent recently, she said, “I have made it a rule that my kids read every day for an hour. There are no two ways about it. They now do it and it is great, but I have noticed that they have stopped asking questions, they have stopped being curious, and they look dull, and that bothers me.”
Strange that reading would dull their curiosity instead of sparking it. But beyond that, this conversation got me curious—about curiosity.
Why is it important to be curious? …
How to Reap the Benefits of Post-Traumatic Growth
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” ~Hemingway
We all know of post-traumatic stress (PTS) but how many of us know of post-traumatic growth (PTG), a very hopeful and attainable way of life beyond the loss, adversity, and trauma we’ve experienced? It’s a term that was coined in the 1990s and is becoming more popular now as positive psychology and the specific area of resiliency-building have gained momentum in our society.
What is post-traumatic growth? It’s positive change and growth that comes about as a result of an adversity or loss. It is channeling …
Create More, Consume Less: How to Feel More Excited About Life
“Creating means living.” ~Dejan Stojanovic
We live in a consumer culture. We love to eat, drink, and be merry—while binge watching whatever’s trending on Netflix and getting a dopamine hit for every item added to our cart on Amazon Prime.
We love to take it all in—information, entertainment, status updates, news reports, substances, and an endless array of stuff. There’s never a shortage of things we can consume, often to keep our minds distracted and our feelings silenced.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love a good meal, a Jim Beam or two, and an afternoon spent zoned out on …
Say Yes to What Excites You and Make This the Year You Really Live
“I imagine that Yes is the only living thing.” ~e.e. cummings
During the fall of 2017 I began openly dating, four years after my separation and divorce of a twenty-plus year relationship. It was scary. And I was clear—I didn’t want a commitment, I just wanted the experience and some fun.
My third round of online dating, I finally went out with some younger men who I assumed lined up with my non-commitment goal. It was different and fun, but also not quite what I wanted.
In December of that year, my friend, who was interested in getting to …
Think You Can’t Do It? Don’t Let Your Mind Limit or Define You
“The limit is not in the sky. The limit is the mind.” ~Unknown
I was having a conversation with a friend. She was telling me how maybe I should quit my writing and focus on something that wasn’t so challenging for me; that I should accept my limits and work within those boundaries. Her words made me cringe.
You see, I am dyslexic and I struggled greatly to write this story down. I am probably going to read it twenty times and will still have many mistakes that need editing.
My job is a daily struggle, and sometimes I break …
The Beauty of Uncertainty: Each Day is a Blank Canvas
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~Mark Twain
It occurred to me one day, while staring at my computer at work, that I have always been uncomfortable with the idea of having uncertainty in any area of my life.
I plan my schedule rigidly, including what social/extracurricular activities I’m going to do over the next week. I take very few risks, and when …
When You Feel Pressured and Overwhelmed by Possibilities
“Ego says, ‘Once everything falls into place, I’ll feel peace.’ Spirit says, ‘Find your peace, and then everything will fall into place.’” ~Marianne Williamson
I have exhausted myself with my own expectations. The pressure I have put on myself to be a certain person is consuming my thoughts and eating away at my soul.
I imagine a point in my life when I’ll have it all together, and I feel a sting in my chest that this has not happened yet.
I think about the milestones that might get me there and the things that have led me astray. I …
4 Tips to Help You Choose When You Have a Lot of Passions
“Sometimes the wrong choices bring us to the right places.” ~Unknown
When I first quit my office job in 2012, I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. My idea bank was at zero.
But for a full year after leaving my job, I committed myself to exploring and doing the things I’d always been too scared to do.
I took acting classes, traveled, volunteered on farms, started a blog, learned about a more sustainable lifestyle, and was initiated into Reiki.
After a while I realized my problem had spun a complete 360. My idea …
Stop Fearing Uncertainty & Get Excited About Possibilities
“When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life.” ~Osho
Once, during an AmeriCorps leadership retreat, I was asked to create a motto for my life, a mission statement for my future. I was handed a blank piece of paper and I was terrified.
At the time, my life was filled with uncertainty. My year of national community service was coming to an end. I didn’t know what my next job would be, let alone what my life’s mission statement should be.
As I sat, panic stricken, staring into my uncertain future and an empty …
Think Like a 5-Year-Old to Start Living the Life of Your Dreams
“Don’t grow up. It’s a trap.” ~Unknown
A little over a year ago, my brother and I decided to write a book together. At the ages of nineteen and twenty-nine, this was a really scary thing for us.
Neither of us considered ourselves “good writers,” and we especially didn’t think highly enough of our writing to imagine that we’d ever write a book.
I made C’s on most of my papers in high school and college and, quite frankly, my confidence in my writing was pretty low.
Each time I tried to sit down and write even a two-to-five-page paper, …
