RISING UP

Have you ever been excited about an event and heard yourself say 'I hope everything goes well!' or you're struggling to stay motivated and pray the children will 'just be good today'? 

I know I sure have.  Sometimes feeling like you can't cope with one more challenge, or simply wanting a 'break from life' is normal.  I mean seriously, life's a tricky and testing game we play, so wanting a little reprieve is not too much to ask! Cheese on toast for dinner's certainly ok here and there 🤔😉

Options that make adulting easier are a GREAT asset to your mental wellbeing. And if you're looking after your mental load, guess who benefits? Yep - everyone! You, those you love & lead, and total strangers too. Seriously, we humans are a lot nicer when we're not as stressed, right?

But, we don't want to get in the habit of making life 'too easy', with a reason every other day to not follow through with what we know is really needed, like healthy snacks in your bag for the kiddies, getting to bed earlier instead of scrolling, exercising, or giving in to your children because you don't have the energy to follow-through.

Take a second to recognise what your area like this could be. The thing you let 'slide' so life's not so hard. Is it your health, parenting, work, relationships? Owning your reality is needed if you want to live an inspired and aligned life, otherwise those little moments will add up, affecting your overall results .... and the way you feel about yourself 🫤

"Instead of hoping for life to be easier,

let's rise up to meet it"

Here's two ideas to help you enjoy life more - tell me that's your goal 🤞🙏🤞 - AND be who you want to be to others. That'd be cool if it happened on the regular, wouldn't it? Well, let's do it!

The Commitment

Life gets so busy, it's easy to feel like a hamster on a wheel, running in circles and not getting anywhere. But you ARE making progress my beautiful friend. But you reading this tells me you might be wanting more. Here's a secret, the more satisfied and successful you feel in your days, the more the people you love and lead will benefit from you. Now that's a win, so I'm cheering and championing you on from my office! You've got this, special person 👍

Making an internal commitment to rise up is a promise to yourself that you're choosing growth over ease. Not EVERY time, but more often than not. You're choosing to be the person who values the challenge because you know the growth it equals for your emotional and mental health. As I always say, children are watching how we live our lives, so our resilience matters! Not that we're wishing for hard times, of course. We're merely using mental preparedness as a life and parenting strategy✅

The Belief

Once you've decided you want to lean more and more into the awesome-ness that you are, you must intentionally choose to believe thoughts that help you.

I'll start you off:

- I rise up to life. It doesn't need to be easy for me to thrive.

- No matter what life throws at me or my loved ones, I know I can find the strength to rise up.

- I love being the calm in the storm. It comes easy to me.

- Being the energetic safe space for those I love and lead is my greatest purpose.

- I grow through challenge.

- I'm here today. That means I have a 100% success rate for getting through the hard days!

Next time you find yourself hoping for things to be easer, repeat one of the above mantras, or better still, repeat one you've thought of yourself. New belief's take practice and repetition, but with time, they seep into your being until one day you wake up, life tries to knock you down and you realise it barely made you sway! That my friend, is a calming, proud day for you.

"Instead of praying or ease, pray for strength and competence."

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer here, but look around: life's going to test you, isn't it? I'm certain you could write me a few solid pages about the hardships you or your friends have experienced, so why do we keep being surprised by them? Again, I'm not encouraging you to wake up expecting the sky to fall. In fact, I'm offering the opposite. Take the reality that you're going to face challenges, and instead of praying for ease, pray for strength and competence. 

When children are watching you for cues on how to respond to life, this unspoken lesson is invaluable.

My aim is for you - heck, for all of us! -  is to rise up by building the competency and capabilities of yourself and those you love, rather than hoping life will be easier.

'Cause hope is not a strategy!

It disempowers; it gives your options away to something or someone else as a way for you to feel better. Instead of hoping things are better, let's work to have the skills and beliefs to thrive through the hardest of times. 

For example,

• instead of hoping our children won't argue, let's put our focus on our ability to maintain OUR OWN emotional regulation during these moments.
• rather than hoping your workload is reduced, know that you can handle it, either on your own, or by accessing support from your team.
• instead of hoping your challenging sibling doesn't call you, do the mental and emotional work to rise above it.

I can't over-emphasise the feeling of freedom and calm that comes from rising up, rather than staying at your current emotional skill level. It's definitely not a one-and-done, easy task, but man, is sure is worth the effort. 

So let's rise up for our children and for us.

If this resonates with you, join like-minded women in EMPOWERED, my online membership for mums. It's where you can access my coaching tools 24/7 from the comfort of your own home. Whether it's at 10am hanging the washing with airbuds in or 3am when you can't sleep, my offerings are there to realign you to the woman you yearn to be 🥰

Sincerely

Catherine

e: [email protected]