By Gretchen Reid
Motherhood Transitions columnist for GreatIdeasForKids.com
What’s the theme of your summer? For us it’s summer time FUN! We’re leaving lots up to chance and spontaneity, keeping the scheduled events to a minimum…except play dates of course.
Knowing what I wanted to create for me and my children, I set course toward that goal. As summer was approaching and the realization that my oldest son will be entering 1st grade in the fall I suddenly felt myself transported back to my childhood. Wide open time and space to do as I pleased. I rode bikes with my neighborhood friends, built tree forts with my brothers, hiked around in our back forest exploring fauna, played at the pond behind our house, played kick the can til’ dark. And when I couldn’t think of anything else to do, I sat on my thinking rock and came up with a new idea. This is what I wanted for my kids this summer, and for myself for that matter.
How did I make it happen? I heard and truly listened to my heart’s desire. I looked at all the assumptions and logistics that surrounded this desire and tested them for their truth. Once I could no longer ignore the message, I jumped and trusted that the rest would work itself out, regardless of the uncertainty I felt in the moment.
I wanted to find another mom whom I could do a babysitting trade with one day a week in order to have a little time for work and for me. I stated the intention to myself and took a deep breath trusting that somehow somewhere this other mom would appear. Not more than an hour later, in the local coffee shop I ran into a friend who asked me how I was. I told her that I was planning to take the summer off and play with the kids but I wanted to find someone to do a trade with. Bingo. It was her.
I wondered how my clients would take the news and what would happen to my business if I took the summer off. Everyone has been extremely supportive and those who want to continue working with me through the summer seem to fall nicely onto Tuesday mornings. The others are looking forward to working with me come the end of August. I’m anticipating that this break will also give me a valuable new perspective and allow me to create some new workshops and group processes. You may be thinking that you couldn’t possible do what I’m doing due to financial obligations or work restrictions. This may be true and may not be. All I suggest is to test your beliefs and while being responsible for your family, take a risk where it feels risky but right. Find the solution that is best for you AND that fulfills your desires. You will likely be rewarded in some fashion or another.
Why do I tell you this story? It’s about listening to your deep desires, taking the leap and trusting that the rest will work out. I love the quote, “Leap and the net will appear.” When you are in alignment with your truth, it will never fail you.
So, what do you desire for the summer? Hear your inner voice, take the leap, and live it!
Gretchen has two groups starting September 2008 in the Boulder/Denver area: Mom-Me™ Group Coaching - a supportive group for moms in all phases of motherhood addressing the Mom, the Me, and the hyphen in between. Mom-preneurial Group Coaching - a holistic group for moms who are or want to be entrepreneurs. Both groups are limited to 6 women each -- register soon -- these groups fill up quickly! See www.MotherhoodTransitions.com for details. For questions or to sign-up for Gretchen's monthly articles,
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or call (303) 642-3105.
Article originally posted July 2008.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 21 July 2008 )
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