10 gifts I’ve uncovered while living in the unknown
Are you moving through a career change, health crisis or relationship challenge? Are you in a big life transition and asking “What’s next?” Or, perhaps you’re in a place of re-imagining your life? It feels as if we’re headed into a wild frontier without a map and are being asked to evolve and create new tools for navigating this unknown landscape as we go.
If we take a bird’s eye view, there’s no doubt we’re all facing unprecedented levels of change, uncertainty and chaos.
In addition to all these outward changes, we’re also being called to transform internally. Humanity is undergoing huge consciousness shifts and many of us are feeling the call to evolve and embrace new ways or working and being.
Across the board, the majority of my friends, colleagues, clients —and my own family, as well—are navigating uncertainty and experiencing some type of transition right now. So how do we keep our sanity—not to mention sense of inner peace—in the face of so much change?
For many of us, living in the unknown can often feel worse than receiving actual “bad news” (i.e. news that is contrary to what we want!). It can conjure up the old “waiting for the other shoe to fall” feeling. It can feel unsettling, elicit overwhelm and challenge the illusion that we’re in charge!
Last night after dinner my husband and I talked about this theme. Yes, we agreed, change can bring up all types of fears. But, if you’re willing to keep breathing and stay with this feeling, there is also a sense that the unknown can be exhilarating, fresh and filled with potential and re-birth. If you can move out of “paralysis by analysis,” living in the unknown can be an incredible opportunity for spiritual, personal and professional growth. Sometimes we need the reminder that it’s ok to outgrow our old clothes and try on something we never thought was our style!
Swirling uncertainty offers many gifts and provides you with the opportunity to:
- Examine your values (what’s most important to you?) and be willing to explore life from the inside out.
- Focus on gratitude: giving thanks for all you do have; a daily gratitude practice shifts your mood faster than anything else!
- Identify your anchors and what you need to truly rejuvenate and deeply nourish yourself.
- Practice mindfulness and live more in the present moment; right here, right now is the only true stress-free zone.
- Contemplate and reflect: step back and take time to reflect and examine your fears and barriers to success.
- Question how you see things (do you play the “what if” up game or the “what if” down game … are you an optimist or a pessimist?).
- Build a support network: get comfortable asking for and receiving help (read more).
- Imagine the possibilities: are you open to expanding into an even better life/job/relationship/business than you ever imagined?
- Serve others, volunteer: nothing pulls us out outside of ourselves faster that working in a soup kitchen.
- Feel so you can heal: breath work, yoga, conscious movement are essential tools for navigating uncertain times (read more).
Are you willing to explore the gifts that come from being in a state of limbo? Life is continually shifting: chaos, order, chaos and so on. This week I’m playing with the concept of being just as comfortable with the wild unknown as I am with those forces in my life that ground me. My mantra these days? It’s all compost.
HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOU? HERE ARE TWO OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINDING BALANCE:
- I’m booking 2021-2022 workshops and presentations now: Consider hiring me to create an online balanced living experience to help your team, organization or employees feel less stressed and more resilient, creative and focused. For 20+ years I’ve been working with companies/organizations like Merrill Lynch, the Center for Women in Law, the Hewlett Foundation and more. Whether it’s a workshop, keynote or custom retreat via Zoom, I’d love to discuss how I can support your team or organization. Learn more here.
- Live in Western NC or know a soulful woman in this area? I’m forming a small in-person Mastermind Group this spring in Brevard, NC (just south of Asheville) for women who are self-employed or who are birthing something new. We’ll meet twice a month; this is modeled after the popular women’s circles I’ve been leading for 20 years. For more details, email info@reneetrudeau.com.
Subscribe here to Live Inside Out, a weekly blog written by life balance coach/author/speaker and self-care evangelist Renée Peterson Trudeau. Passionate about helping men and women find balance through the art/science of self-care, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, US News & World Report, AARP, Spirituality & Health and more. She and her team have certified more than 400 facilitators in 10 countries around the globe to lead self-renewal groups for women based on her pioneering work. She’s the author of two books on life balance including the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life. She and her husband live in Western North Carolina and occasionally Austin, Texas and are enjoying a new empty nest. More on Renee here.
