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Am I good enough?

I had a friend share with me recently that he was doing an important presentation at work and stumbled on the opening line. He was devastated. I can’t remember his exact words but the sentiment was that because of it he would “never work in this town again”. My heart broke for him - whether it would have that dramatic an effect on his career was true or not, it’s awful that he felt that way. What kind of impossible level of perfection are we holding ourselves to that there is zero room for error? It made me start reflecting on “enoughness”. So many of us have a voice in our heads telling us that we’re not enough - not smart enough, not funny enough, not pretty enough, not thin enough, not successful enough, not rich enough, not young enough, not creative enough, not cool enough, not strong enough, not vulnerable enough, not happy enough...not good enough. We could probably have a healthy debate about how those thoughts get formed and set on repeat. Is it societal pressures and fa...
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You always have a choice

Without fail, when something new and interesting shows up in my life, it keeps showing up again and again in different conversations and different contexts as though to reinforce its message for me. This happened to me over the past couple of weeks - a theme weaved itself through my days and many of my interactions and that message is: choice.    There are 3 key ways choice has shown up for me recently:  How I spend my time : There have been circumstances in my life recently that have made me really appreciate my precious time on this Earth. I am acutely aware that I am (as we all are) on borrowed time and it can be over without warning. This awareness is such a blessing for me in so many ways - one of which is that it has made me really intentional about how I spend my time. I’ve referenced this in previous posts - given that every day is a gift and a blessing, why not just enjoy it? Do the things you want to do. Spend your finite time in ways that inspi...
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I need...space.

I stared at my calendar, first cup of coffee in hand. I saw all the blue blocks of time adjacent to one another. My day (my life that day) was scheduled from the time I logged on to the time I would log off to pick up my kids from school. I had back to back meetings all day. I skimmed through the meetings to see if I really needed to be in them (I am conscious of not meeting just for the sake of meeting). But I did. There was a reason I needed to be at each of them. I was being consulted on something or was collecting information from someone. They were all legit. Hmm. I know this is a familiar tune. I know people do this day after day. So I started my day and got through a few of them and happily so - I love the work I do and the people I work with so this is time well-spent. But then around noon, with my head spinning from the information exchanged in the first half of the day, I knew I still had another half a day of meetings to go. I couldn’t do it. I felt totally overwhelm...
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Authentically Me

You know what is a really fun concept to dive into? Authenticity. Authenticity . I even like the word itself. Authenticity is defined as “representing one’s true nature or beliefs, true to oneself.” Isn’t that delicious? Don’t we all just want permission to be true to ourselves? Isn’t authenticity the quality we search for so deeply and admire most in others? Brene Brown says “Authenticity is a collection of choicers that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” It is so obvious to me when I meet someone who is being entirely themselves. And not from a place of rebellion (although I understand the need for that) but I’m talking about those people who are just totally content being who they are in this world. It is a quality that is so intoxicating to be around. We spend so much of our lives trying to conform to who we think we should be or how we should act or what we should l...
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The Runner’s Secret

Let’s be real here...I’m not the fastest runner. I’m not going to break any records, I’m not going to win any marathons and some days I run slower than the day before. But what I lack in natural ability, I make up for in commitment and dedication to the sport. I run a lot. I run regularly. I am a runner. But winning races has never been the point for me. In fact, winning races, although momentarily gratifying, is probably the least enjoyable thing about running.  People in warm cars pass me in a hurry to get where they need to be while I run in the cold rain on a dark morning and probably wonder why I would ever subject myself to that.  So what is the runner’s secret? If it’s not about winning or being the fastest, what’s the point? I run because it makes me feel alive . It connects my mind, body and soul in the most beautiful way. Running is a deep meditation for me. Some people do yoga, others sit in meditation...I run. Without fail, if I’ve been mulling over so...
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My favourite topic - joy and fun!

Can we talk about joy and fun for a minute?  This is one of my favourite topics to discuss and one I think most of us have put on the backburner for too long. We’ve put it there because we tell ourselves we will allow ourselves joy and fun once we have gotten through today’s to-do list. Just out of curiosity, have you ever gotten to the end of your to-do list? Mine is ongoing - no sooner do I complete my to-do list then there are suddenly more things to add.  Somewhere along the line, if we’re not careful, life turns into a series of tasks to check off the list: Pay the bills, pick the kids up from school, finish Christmas shopping, respond to that email, do the laundry, pick up lunch, schedule the electrician, go to the dentist, take the car in for repairs, get a haircut, walk the dog, go to the gym, schedule that playdate, fix the sink, organize photos, etc. And whether we’re talking about an actual written list or just a running list we keep in our heads, we all have...
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Can we talk? Like, really talk

There we sat, on my beige sofa, in my first home - a small but perfect-for-us-at-the-time townhouse. I had a great job in a field I loved, I had a good family and caring friends, a wonderful husband and the sweetest cocker spaniel puppy. I was young and successful...and miserable.  There we sat. I had invited a dear friend over for a visit. I was pensive and she knew it. Out of the silence, I said “I feel like nobody talks about real things anymore.” She watched me, considering what I was saying and trying to figure out the best way to respond in a comforting way. She said “Do you think we are having a real conversation?” in a reassuring tone implying that we were dear friends and of course all of our conversations were “real”. “Yes”, I lied. More silence. Eventually her then-boyfriend (now husband) came to collect her, we hugged, said we would get together again soon and she left. There I sat, on my beige sofa, by myself. I was left alone with that unaddresse...
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