


Also, my mom reads my blog! Hi Mom!
Remember my life purpose I shared in my first blog post a few weeks ago? Well, today I am the Wild Card who is kind of afraid my Mom will read this. My inner critic or Gremlin if you will, is in my head like this:
I’m joking and possibly creating some awkwardness here. Why? Because I’m already anticipating reactions, thinking of censoring myself, and so on. I’m also joking because it is a way I avoid conveying in a more serious way, something I care about, and think is an important question to ask.
Here are some fortunes I made up:
What if things changed…in bed?
What if you changed who you thought you were…in bed?
What if you asked for what you wanted…in bed?
What if you allowed your most authentic self to emerge…in bed?
If you do turn away from some of these questions out of discomfort my only request is to ask yourself what’s underneath that reaction. Of course, you have every right to refuse that request. I will not take it personally if you stop reading my blog or have a less-than-stellar opinion of me.
This space is about reclaiming the power of “What if” questions and pointing them towards possibility, exploration, re-examination of beliefs, and so on. It’s not a place to fan the flames of catastrophic thinking or fear. That said, I do acknowledge that fear often stands in the way of exploring possibilities.
We live life once. I believe we should enjoy it as the fullest expression of our authentic selves. I myself am still working on it and this blog is part of that exploration. How does holding back and censoring ourselves get in the way?
There is power in asking What If questions. This is not a blog with “10 Magical Steps To Bliss” or advice to give. I ask a lot of questions and trust you readers to come up with your own answers because you are creative, capable and fully in charge of yourselves! Everyone’s life and journey are unique.
I strongly believe there is an empowering space of possibility that lies beyond any What If question and that includes questions that end with “in bed.”
I thought I’d experiment with a more narrow focus here after experiencing an explosion of What Ifs while writing my last post. The school year is almost over. Another year gone by! I sent my husband an article recently called “Eighteen Summers: It’s All We Get” and keep reminding myself to slow down the pace of life with our kids so we can savor it. All of this brought to mind an excerpt I read online last Fall about a father dropping his oldest son off at college. It was called “Unprepared” and was featured on Slate.com. I was so choked up when I read it. I couldn’t believe it was written by Rob Lowe. How could that be possible? I had always despised Rob Lowe! I fit him into a neat box in my mind next to Keira Knightley called “Celebrities I despise.” In my opinion, Rob Lowe was just too smooth and pretty as an 80s heartthrob so I decided I didn’t like him and that was that.
Later in his career, I found him all too easy to despise in certain movies like Tommy Boy especially as a foil to one of my favorites, the comedic cherub, Chris Farley. Of course, that was the point.
After feeling so touched after reading “Unprepared”, I realized I had made up some pretty big assumptions about Rob Lowe and carried them around for 30 years without once revisiting my stance. After reading his book excerpt online, I felt compelled to immediately check out his memoir Love Life at the library to lift the veil and see where my assumptions might be wrong. Ahhh, the celebrity memoir genre. Mr. Lowe (it feels too personal referring to him as “Rob) tells entertaining stories about growing up, the Playboy mansion, cub scout field trips, and a saxophone gig after St. Elmo’s Fire. He also shares touching snippets about love and parenting. He wrote that Rashida Jones, his co-star on Parks and Rec, called him a “benevolent narcissist” and I found myself smiling. I realized at some point in reading that I stopped despising him or thinking that I despised him. And what had I despised anyway? His smarmy good looks and presumed celebrity shallowness? How was I being shallow in my judgment of him? I’d made so many assumptions (he’s dumb/a jerk/self-absorbed/etc.) given that I don’t even know the guy personally.
I imagine some of you might be thinking “Whoa. Settle down! Why are you getting so serious about your judgments of a random celebrity?”
Entertain me for a few more paragraphs! In reading his memoir, I saw some of his humanity. Sure, it’s possible most of it was ghost-written by an intern who interviewed him in his trailer for a few days. Despite looks and money and fame and all the rest of it, Rob Lowe is a real person with a life story. It’s so easy to think we “despise” celebrities and forget they are human beings. Rob Lowe is still not my favorite actor or person in the world. After nearly finishing this post I finally decided to read his Wikipedia page last night and there are some controversial things on there that I wasn’t aware of. I’m not going to delve any deeper right now except to say that he is a three-dimensional human being who has been living his life and I’m sure making mistakes like anyone else. I’ll save topics like acceptance and forgiveness for future blog posts.
To be clear, this post is not really about celebrities or Rob Lowe. Rob Lowe points me to many questions some of which are:
I’ve encountered people in my life who have triggered me where I felt angry, defensive, judgmental, “not enough”, ignored, and so on. What if I didn’t take it personally? What if their behavior was not a reflection on me and who I am? It’s easier to access compassion when we get curious about who someone is, what they’re going through and how they came to be that person. After spending a few days tinkering with this post, I came across an article last night on my commute titled “Want to Connect With That Difficult Co-Worker? Try This 1 Sentence.” The sentiment in the article goes beyond just co-workers and was:
We all fear something, love something, have lost something
Every person is a bundle of beliefs, personality, preferences, opinions, life experiences (positive and negative), etc. What if we brought more compassion and curiosity to the people we thought we didn’t like? Or who we assume don’t like us? Or who live drastically different lives than we do? Or to people we encounter in our daily lives who seem grumpy or withdrawn? Maybe we will be surprised. Maybe not. Maybe more compassion and curiosity will bring more connection and understanding. Or maybe we will learn enough so that we still decide to respectfully avoid that person. We won’t know until we try.
What was that about? Apparently, I lived my way into the answer. I was lucky enough to see some friends live and in-person at a BBQ last weekend and a few asked me “So when’s the next post?” and I felt a familiar Gremlin voice say: “Ahhhh! the weight of expectation! What have I done!? It’s so much easier when no one expects anything from me!” Yet at the same time I really wanted to write another post and do it regularly. I told a handful of folks I’d like to post every 1-2 weeks. I also explained how I don’t like routines and I’m “bad at” consistency and how “I’m going to play with that 1-2 week time frame and see what happens.”
What if these were stories I’ve been telling myself for years and not actual truths about how “good” or “bad” I am at something?
If I consider my story about my distaste for consistency and routine, what about this particular story feels true? Well, to start, I don’t keep to routines when it comes to things I don’t think are super important like making my bed or making my kids do their homework (oops).
What about the story is not true? One example is that I do keep our kids on a bedtime routine because I think it is valuable and beneficial to them to get sleep. Another example is that I get myself to bed most nights between 9pm and 10pm (many of my friends know I have a nerdy iPhone reminder that says “Bedtime!” and goes off at 9pm) because I value how I feel more mentally sharp, energetic, healthy, and in a better mood when I get 7-8 hours of sleep. If I break that routine, it is a conscious choice to stay up late like attending John Williams’ Film Night at the BSO this past week (which was incredible and listening to live music makes me feel alive!) or deciding to stay up until 11pm to watch a second episode of The Night Manager as part of a multi-day binge of the series (watching Tom Hiddleston makes me feel alive!).
And another thing! As I said these things out loud to real actual people last weekend about being “bad at” consistency and routines, I heard how non-committal my voice and energy sounded. My very smart friends must have picked up on this. These friends said something like “but you sounded so excited about starting the blog!” and I could feel my energy was inconsistent and low compared to the exhilarating, brave, and scary (like the top of a roller coaster) feelings I had when I hit “publish” last Friday. A voice in my head said “You wanted to start a conversation! Remember? This is not a glass observation booth” and so I stepped forward out of the Mist of Avoidance and said “Yes, I am excited about it. I actually love writing and want to spend more time on it.” It was helpful to say that out loud and felt true for me. A friend said “Wow, You just said you want to spend time on it. How often do we actually make time for the things we want to be spending it on?”
Great question!
What if we all spent more time on things we wanted to spend time on? On things we deeply enjoyed and that made us feel alive? I know I can easily get caught up in what I think I should be doing i.e “I should spend tonight signing the kids up for summer camp or in my free block of time I should take my car to get the headlight fixed.” I thought that’s what being an adult was all about. Somewhere along the way I attached myself to the belief that adults need to be responsible and do things for others all the time and should accept that there won’t be enough time for hobbies/interests. In addition to the “shoulds”, this Responsible Adult persona saddles me with countless things I could be doing like “Well, I do have an hour before picking the kids up so I could possibly squeeze in a quick trip to the grocery store or post office.” What if I arranged my schedule so that I spent more time on what mattered most to me? I don’t mean completely giving up on my TO DO list or neglecting to do basic things that take care of my family. I am referring to making more conscious choices and creating time for what makes me feel alive. The challenge is that it’s a constant balancing act. Spending time with my kids is wonderful and yet I also need alone time to recharge so that I’m a better mom when I’m with them. Many of us have competing priorities in life with work, home, family, to-do list, self-care, sleep, health, exercise, etc. One of my Gremlins looks like this:
She tries to tell me it is “selfish” to do things for myself and that I don’t have time for it!
I love this “Secret of Adulthood” that writer/blogger Gretchen Rubin reveals:
We all have choices with how we spend our time. Over the past few years, I’ve really tried to stop saying “I was too busy to do XYZ” or “I didn’t have the time” and just get honest with myself and others that “I had other priorities” or “I made the choice to prioritize XYZ over that.” Often we feel victim to our schedules at times (I know I have and still do during some days/weeks.) Then I remember that I’m the one in charge of my life. I’m the one in charge of what I say “yes” or “no” to. I still struggle with it at times especially when I fear disappointing someone by saying “no.” There are just times when the only thing I want to say “yes” to is going to bed at 8pm like I did last night.
What if as a starting point, we spent more time on the things we cared enjoyed as kids? Before we starting Adulting? I spent a lot of time writing, kicking my soccer ball against my futon, drawing, listening/dancing to music, being outside in the woods, and playing guitar or piano. Currently, I don’t have a futon nor do I have an urge to kick the soccer ball repeatedly like I used to. However, I do have the urge to write, get outside more, dance, and play my guitar.
What if when we felt envious of how others were spending their time if it was just a signpost for us to take a look at our own choices? I know I’ve felt envious when I’ve heard of folks doing fun or interesting things and thought “I wish I had the time and/or guts to do that!”
I think that’s enough What Ifs for today. Please let me know what happens for you (or has already happened prior to reading this post) as you play with time and how you spend it. We need more aliveness in this world! I’m going to go tinker with my time by spending 15 minutes outside before some afternoon calls and see how it feels.
Full disclosure! Starting a blog was a challenge given to me this morning by my amazing coach. It feels scary but I’m doing it anyway because I want to step outside of my comfort zone to see what’s out there. What if it’s not so bad?
I’m here because the current version of my life purpose is:
I am the Wild Card that reveals your “What if?”
A couple of weeks ago during a yoga class, a little voice in my head said “you’re holding back” and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. What if I am holding back? How can I truly step into my life purpose of being a Wild Card if I’m holding back? What if I tried something new? What if I didn’t try and I regretted it later? My blogging resume includes exactly one post I wrote two years ago which was a Motherhood Manifesto. That was also the result of a challenge given to me by a coach. It was nerve-wracking for me at the time to publish it. As someone with a preference for introversion, I haven’t yet cultivated supreme comfort in sharing my innermost thoughts. And I may never feel comfortable with it! That doesn’t mean I can’t and shouldn’t do it though. Some of you may have heard of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. In MBTI terms, I am an INFP. My beautiful cousin Kelly (and fellow INFP) sent me a a funny article last week entitled The Definition Of Hell for Each Meyers-Briggs Personality Type. The definition of hell for me as an INFP was listed as:
Your deepest thoughts and feelings are exposed to a large audience and everyone thinks that you’re pathetic and unoriginal.
Eeeek. That felt true for me when I read it. And yet here I am.
I have a core belief that I haven’t quite articulated yet and it’s something related to the question of “What If?” and how hidden doors to new spaces open up for people as a result. This just popped into my mind! In a 1903 letter to his protégé (captured in Letters to a Young Poet), Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:
I have a deep-seated desire for people to realize that there is so much more available to them than they might think. “More what?” you might ask. More love, more connection, more adventure, more fun, more of what they want and more of what’s important to them. We can live our way into this new space. I suspect this new space lies beyond the stories we tell ourselves like “Oh, I’m just not that kind of person” or the list of practical reasons that can prevent us from trying something different.
Currently, I think there are two kinds of What Ifs. Those that open the door of possibilities like “What if I started a blog? What if I enjoy writing it?” I think the second kind are What Ifs that open the door to Gremlin-land like “What if no one reads it? What if people judge me? What if no one cares? What if I stink at using WordPress?” I imagine my focus in these blog posts will be more on the door of possibilities but what if I’m wrong about that?
This post will not be a one-time deal and I am committed to hashing out my ideas around “What if?” here in a public forum. I needed to write that down so I don’t have an out. You can all witness me exploring and stumbling around as I process (via this blog) the concept of “What if?” and what it means for me and for others. Writing that previous sentence made me realize I do not want to put up a glass observation booth here that hinders connection. Please know that I wholeheartedly invite your comments and participation about the impact of What Ifs on you and your life. Stay tuned for more. What if it’s actually not hell for me as an INFP revealing my thoughts and feelings to a public audience? I’m curious about what’s next and open to whatever space I’m living my way into.
Motherhood Manifesto (the early years 0-6)
The word “manifesto” has its roots in Italian, from manifestare, to manifest. Here is my attempt to capture not only what I wish I knew from the start but what Motherhood means to me and how I’d ideally like it to manifest in my life each day: