What does it mean to be depressed? Is it okay?
I'll be honest, my heart has been raked open by the hurt and depression that I've encountered this holiday season. Never before have I felt the rawness that is all around me in such an overwhelming way. It doesn’t seem to matter which direction I face, depression is looking back at me from the eyes of my friends, clients, and even my own family.
There is a cycle that many of us fall into that I believe is officially called Repress-Express, but that I affectionately refer to as Repress-Explode, or Doormat-Raging Queen.
In Doormat mode, we take it, we don’t say ‘Boo!’ to anyone about anything and we just ‘take it’. When people irritate us, we are polite. When our boundaries are crossed, we are polite. When our dreams are disrespected, we are polite.
Social media is a weird and wild place and I find it all too easy to slump into what I call 'Facebook-itis' where I am comparing my life to the 'lives' of the fantabulous many that I follow and am friends with. What can be all too easy for me to forget is that I am comparing my real life to their highlight reel.
What pulls at the strings of your heart? What longing are you holding on to that is calling our for release. To be thrown into the wind with as much passion and volume as you can muster from deep within in yourself? To allow it to be carried away on that wind to become part of the Divine plan?
I've been thinking an awful lot lately about vibration and my online 'voice'. Who do I want to be and what do I want to stand for in what seems to be a crowded marketplace? What is the story that I want to be telling, and believing about what makes someone successful?
What are you creating these days? Is it drama, chaos and bitterness... or rest, stillness, and joy?
There are so many times I have caught myself the last few years (sheesh! decades!) condemning myself for not being good enough, not being pretty enough, not being skinny enough, and not being rich enough...
'Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart towards your statutes, and not towards selfish gain...' Psalm 119:35-37 NIV
Ooooohhh!! Ladies, there is something very cool happening. We are being called out of hiding, out of the dark places where we have thought we could pretend to be less than we are.
Please, please find the places where you are hiding and make a decision to clean it up, clean it out and get on with being the awesome shiny goddess you are meant to be. Let's all do this!!
For most of us, and especially for women business owners, we spend the vast majority of our time in the Important and Urgent category. This is known as 'fighting fires'. Every day we are scrambling to get done what NEEDS to get done NOW in our life and in our business.
We deal with client situations, we take care of the bills, we handle the kids and the parents and our friends and our spouse and... EVERYTHING!
And, if you're like me and my people, you're really REALLY good at it.
Maybe you even THRIVE on it. It can be a rush. It can be addictive.