Month: July 2017
The 30 Day Challenge Project
When it was suggested to me to take on a 30 day challenge project AND I had to share my progress some way, somehow, I thought to myself “ummmmm what would I even do?? Who’d even care??” It felt REALLY uncomfortable!
On our evening dog walk, I decided to bring up the challenge subject. When I told M what I wanted to do, he immediately responded with “cool, I’m in!” HUH!?! Are you kidding me? For real? Yup, he was for real!
We sat down together to come up with ideas – it was a fun way to come up with activities & get M involved in the process too – so it wasn’t just up to me AND he couldn’t say he wasn’t involved in the planning.
I’ve been asked by so many friends to share our challenge, so here it is. If you would like me to send it to just ask – I’m more than happy to! I continue to be inspired by those who have shared with me how much they enjoyed seeing our accountability posts, even been inspired to do their own challenges! To those who cheered us on along the way – THANK YOU!!! You helped us keep going & stay motivated to finish!
I did learn a few things over the 30 days:
- Be accountable – if you say you’re gonna do it – do it! Post it, share it, check in with someone. This will help keep you motivated.
- Put your challenge in a place you can see it everyday. Use something to cross out each day’s challenge. I even embelished it with stickers!
- It doesn’t have to be in order that you set it – I struggled with this! Once I realized it didn’t matter what day we did the activity, it flowed much easier. We just had to do it – that’s what counted!
- Make choices together (if you’re doing this with a partner). Each night, after we finished the day’s challenge, we would pick the next day’s one.
- Don’t stress! It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just do it! I had to let got my desire for perfection for some of the days – i.e. our picnic day – it ended up being 15 minutes in the park by our house before I went to clean up an event. SOOO not what I wanted for our picnic day! I also had to be okay if we missed a day although I’m proud to say that only happened once.
- Enjoy the moment and really challenge yourself! Talking finances, planning for the future, no junk food (to be clear, coffee is NOT junk food) are not always “easy” for us and put us out of our comfort zones. Some of the challenges I enjoyed the most were our road trip, no mobile devices (although I was surprised how many times I went to reach for my phone, I didn’t realize how attached to devices we really are) and true connection and quality time for us – even if it was only 15 minutes!
- Make time! Whether you do 10 days, 30 days, with a partner or on your own, take the time to create a challenge for you. It will surprise you how it feels upon completion, the opportunity to inspire someone else, give yourself the opportunity to grow!
- Reward yourself – this is important! You need to pat yourself on the back, buy a treat or do something to celebrate your success!
Would we do another 30 day challenge? You betcha! What will it be? We have not yet decided – don’t worry, we’ll share lol!
Until next time, I wish you love, joy, happiness and I challenge you to do something out of your comfort zone as well as an opportunity to discover YOUR 2.0!
I am not a label
This week I have been challenged to work on something that I’ve been struggling with… WHO AM I? See, as most of us do, when we are asked who we are, we automatically describe ourselves by what we do or by the labels that we have given ourselves and that society has given us. For example, for the past 14 plus years, I’ve described myself as a children’s event & party planner, a significant other to M, a dog mumma, Michele’s (my mum) daughter, I love to bake and recently I’ve added a GROOVE facilitator, lover of yoga, and all things motivational. All of these things are great however, they just describe me, and they are labels. I’m not what I do.
As I’ve been winding down my business, the question keeps popping up “how am I going to identify myself now?” Through coaching conversations and tears (of course) I was asked what I was afraid of in reflecting on who I AM, NOT what I DO. That’s an easy answer, what if people don’t like “just Kristina?”
I took some time to do an on-line search of the phrases: who am I, why do we label ourselves, why do I introduce myself as what I do and so on… the interesting links I got were religious & psychology ones to the who am I question. The others took me to links about how to describe myself in a job interview, my favourite by far has to be the link about key words to describe yourself on dating websites!
So what would happen if I introduced myself as Kristina? I am… rather than a label, a job descriptions, my likes or my dislikes. How cool would it be to ask someone who are you rather than what do you do? Bare with me while I work on a little experiment right here, right now…
Who am I? I’m Kristina.
- I am strong
- I am courageous
- I am independent
- I am love
- I am passion
- I am fun
- I am fierce
- I am interesting
- I am free
- I am joy
- I am leader
- I am smart
- I am talented
- I am caring
- I am compassionate
- I am supportive
- I am source
- I am light
- I am adventurous
- I am daring
- I am more than my name
- I am more than the labels I have
- I am ME
Funny thing is, as I’m writing this list, I start thinking to myself, “Ha Kristina, look at you tooting your own horn!” I took a moment to stop myself – No, actually these are the things I am, I just need to own them. So, here I am, owning my I ams more than my I dos.
My dare to you, fellow readers & friends is to tell me who you are, I mean, LIKE REALLY who you are… I can’t wait to meet the true you!
As always, I wish you love, passion, discovery, and of course, an opportunity to discover your 2.0!
What’s next….
For the first time in over 15 years, I have no idea what’s going to happen next. Up until recently, I knew exactly where I was going and definitely how I was going to get there. Now, here I am about ready to embark on new, unknown chartered waters and I feel as if my compass is broken!
As I close down my current business, selling off equipment and supplies, saying goodbye to staff, clients and associates, I keep getting asked one question: “So, what are you going to do now?” Well, honestly, I have no freaking idea! That, my friends, scares the crap outta me! I’ve always known what I was doing, now, with little direction, I’m heading down a new path with no map – yet! Of course, I have ideas circling in my mind of things I’d like to do, things I want to do and there’s a bit of the things I have to do. Anyway, you slice it, I feel a little lost at the moment.
Why is so important that I have to know a plan RIGHT this moment? Why is everyone so focused on what’s next? Why am I so focused on it? Why can’t I just be, for a bit anyway?!
Don’t they know how much I’d LOVE to know what I’m doing next? The truth is, deep down, I probably do know what I’ll do next, I am allowing fear to hold me back – yup that’s right, you read it right – FEAR! It allows the mind to play tricks on you and boy is it good too!
So here’s what I know so far without fear guiding me – I’m sharing for accountability sake! I want to do something that includes… (in no particular order)
- Connection – that’s my purpose – I know this for sure
- To inspire – I know that I have the power to inspire others & to have others inspire me
- To be my own boss – I like being a leader, taking charge & being bold
- Use the skills I have – I know what I’m good at, I know that my past skills have been polished like a fine gem and I know that when I use my skills I shine brightly and help others shine brightly
- To be of service – I love helping others, I love providing opportunities for others to help.
- To be of value – I know that the knowledge I have is of value to many
- To have integrity – what I ever I do, I want it to be honest & true
- To have meaning – I want it to mean something to me and to those around me
I’m sure there’s much more I can put on this list however, this is a good start.
For now, the next time I hear the words, “so what are you going to do next?” My answer is this: “I have absolutely no idea, however, I can not wait to see what I create – cause I know it’s going to be amazing!”
To be coached or not to be coached…
Today, after sharing a recent experience, a friend said the most beautiful words to me EVER: “Kristina, you’ve changed!” It was said with so much love and I welcomed the compliment gratefully and without an “awe shucks but…”
No buts about it, I have changed and I am so proud of it too! Life happens, it moulds us, gives us knocks, hardships, joy, love, life lessons, and hopefully, with all of that, we change – for the better once we decide to get ourselves back up!
The past few years, I’ve referred to myself as Kristina 2.0 – I know I’m new & improved (although it’s been discussed I was already pretty darn good). I feel it, I hear it and I see it – most times I can stand triumphantly in my change. I’m not gonna lie though, it’s not always easy!
I’m a constant work in progress – we all are. I’ve been asked the who, what, when and more about some of my life changes. I hate to break it to you, there is no magic pill to swallow, no one could do it for me, I had to be willing to change – I had to take the leap of faith…
As I’ve written about in past blogs, my change began with a friend introducing me to GROOVE – I will be forever grateful for that!! From there, I discovered yoga, meditation and became more open to things I wanted to change about myself. Most of my friends know that when I wholeheartedly love something, I scream about it from the rooftops! I want everyone to drink from the water fountain and experience these life changing opportunities too.
I’d like to share my new passion and while I’ve mentioned before as well, I want to focus on it a bit. Several months ago, while in the depths of grief, life changes in work and personal life, I agreed to start working with a Life Coach. I knew I needed direction, focus and accountability. Wow, am I ever glad I chose to invest in myself like this. She is amazing and I’m not just saying it because she’s also a dear friend, I’m saying it because it’s true! I’m saying it wholeheartedly that this is something worth looking into when you are open and willing to delve into your layers and discover your true self.
Now, it’s not always easy and I don’t want to scare ya, however, sometimes, the work is hard, overwhelming and challenging – I may or may not have delivered a few F-Bombs her way as we do the work! Yet, you want to go back for more – yeah, she’s THAT good! AND IT”S WORTH THE WORK!!!! Without going into the details of coaching and what she does (I encourage you to check out her website here and see if it’s something that would benefit you) it’s been layer after layer of unbelievable, mind blowing discovery of how I got to this point, what drives the decisions I’ve made & will make, what I can do to shine, see my path clearly, be more confident, believe, trust and so much more! She has provided me with the space to change, acknowlege my changes and she’s a dam good cheerleader for your success – so I can even welcome the words, “you’ve changed” cause yeah, baby I sure have and I’m better for it! #coachingsuccess #mysuccess
I wish you endless success, welcome change, love, inspirations and giving yourself a chance to discover YOUR 2.0!
Discovering YOUR 2.0 