Ok, so I've not been quite so disciplined about sticking to the 30 day blogging challenge as perhaps I thought I would be. I can't claim to have been TOO busy to do it, though there has been a bit going on and so my thoughts turn to commitment and how much do I want this. I want it. That much I know but do I want it enough. Being self employed brings all sorts of fears - mainly around money so this exercise has highlighted that I need to do some work around my fears and beliefs around money.
My partner recently ran a 100 mile race in Berlin. He trained hard, he lost about 20lbs in weight, he made sacrifices. He ran his finest race to date. On his laptop screen reads the quote The important thing is this: to be ready at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you could become. I didn't really get it until after he had completed his race, read his blog and really understood how important the race had been to him. He has crossed the threshold from being a 'get rounder' to a 'ultra athlete'. He had sacrificed what he was in order to become a respectd athlete. It got me thinking about discipline, commitment and focus. I know I have the ability to focus and to achieve things I really desire. I ran my first 100 mile race earlier this year and the last 40 miles were like a death march, quitting never entered my head even though I was struggling with nausea, tiredness, blisters and cramping. I wanted that buckle and I would at that moment pushed myself to the point of collapse to earn it. So what's different? I'll keep pondering that one!
Anyway, lets get back on track - this 30 day blog challenge, like my 100 mile endurance run is a long slow affair, I may have missed the checkpoint cut offs but I AM going to finish and reap the rewards!
So day 5 - My Perfect Day - what does it look like, feel like, smell like?
I wake up early, dawn is breaking, the birds are singing and a new day is beginning. I wake up with my partner and after an exchange of affection we get up, straight into our running gear. We head out onto the trails, the air is fresh, the wildlife startled as we are the first humans about this morning. The dew sparkles in the morning sun. All is still. We run for an hour or so, hard but effortless at the same time, runs like that make me believe a sub 24hr 100 miler is possible!
Back home I shower, get changed and enjoy a breakfast of fresh fruit, nuts and seeds. I then settle down to work in my clean uncluttered den. Answering emails, catching up with clients and comments on social media, writing my blog, taking bookings, preparing workshops, writing another page or two of my soon to be best selling book on clearing clutter. I may have private 1:1 clients to see, some over skype, some who come to my clinic in the garden house. I work for about 5 hrs or so.
Absorbed in my work I don't notice the time pass until lunch time - I realise I am hungry and prepare myself a salad of ripe avocado, salad leaves, seeds and dressing. I catch up with my partner over lunch.
After lunch I take a walk along the cliff top, enjoying the fresh breeze and sunshine. This invigorates me. I may spend the afternoon lazing about, catching up with my daughter, family or friends, spending time in the garden, doing photography, maybe clearing some more unwanted clutter from my life. My partner and I chat and plan about up and coming trips and races we have booked.
We eat dinner quite early, freshly cooked fish, vegetables, salad and fruit. And then settle down to a few more hours of work - catching up with clients, social media, writing, being creative, planning.
We reconvene for a catch up of the day's events, maybe meet friends for a drink, or enjoy the late summer sunset. About 10.30 I snuggle into clean fresh sheets for a restful and refreshing nights sleep in the knowledge that all is well, all is progressing as it should, reflecting on issues that have arisen and the learnings I have taken from them.
I wonder what your perfect day would look like? And how much of that can you already be doing, or taking steps towards doing it? Certainly I can snuggle into clean fresh sheets every night if I wish, I can get up and out for a run first thing and I can eat good nourishing food. What simple changes can you make to your life to take you a step or two nearer to everyday being your perfect day!
Until next time
Rachel x
Home and a sense of belonging is important to me.
Yet I also love adventure and travel. But I'm not so sure my heart is in a suitcase!
Taking part in Natalie Sisson's The Suitcase Entrepreneur 30 Day Blogging Challenge, today's question posed is 'what is your definition of location independence'?
The great part of taking part in such a challenge, being part of a community of like minded people, is the inspiration and ideas from everyone else's blogs. Not only is this a good exercise in getting me writing regularly, but also, and perhaps more crucially, getting comfortable with connecting not comparing. With such a plethora of blogs to dip into, each with their own style, themes and content I find myself comparing less and connecting more.
For me location independence simply is the ability to earn a living wherever I choose to be and in whatever time zone I happen to be in. It means being able to adapt my routine to wherever I may be, and stick to it. It means having the technological know-how (or the support of someone who does) to continue working. It means having the ability to build a community, to do the work I love forever. It means being able to work for the rest of my life, because my work is who I am and gives me the pleasure that I never want to stop. Currently my work is incredibly location and time dependent - as a remedial massage therapist and training facilitator my hours are set, my work is face to face (or hands to body). I left full time employment to have a more flexible lifestyle and to a degree that has worked, but with success comes a full diary to commit to, and suddenly I find myself in a position of turning down opportunities for adventures because of a multitude of diary bookings made six months ago.
It means being able to belong at home, to have a solid foundation, albeit a much simplified version of what I have now, yet to be able to spend a few months in the mountains, by the ocean, in the forests, perhaps even in the heart of a city (well for a week or two!). It means being able to have my running adventures and time to recuperate afterwards.
(picture courtesy of Glamping of Lewis - I think I found my next destination!)
It's a thought provoking question - how many of us immediately focus on the travelling nomadic lifestyle, yet with some deeper thought and inner questioning I think it questions us too about how strong our need is to have roots, a base, a solid foundation. And for me that is stronger than perhaps I initially thought.
Thanks for the opportunity to clarify that.
What would be your definition of location independence?
30 Day Blog Challenge Day 3 - What’s your definition of freedom in business and adventure in life?
I run. I run a lot. Running is my freedom, its my adventure.Sometimes when I'm wondering why I can't be arsed to do the training to run faster, I realise that I don't connect my 'training' to 'adventure'.
I'm a trail runner. If I can bear the logistics I love running a trail race from A to B. In an area I don't know. Armed with a map, a set of directions, an eye on trail markings I'm at my happiest.
This year I completed my first 100 mile endurance run. It was a good introduction to the distance though being 5 loops of a 20 mile forest trail not the true adventure I seek. I was excited to discover that my successful completion has qualified me to enter Western States 100 miler. This is the pinnacle of endurance running - a 100.2 mile foot race from Squaw Valley California to Auburn, California through canyons, over high country and a waist high river crossing of the Middle Fork of the American River. This is my adventure.
Freedom in business would give me the income, time and flexibility to have these adventures. And there are many more, not just Western States but Leadville, Salt Flats, Badwater, Grand Union Canal, the list goes on... And its not just running adventures, hiking, cycling, road trips. Never quite knowing what you're going to find, enjoying the journey as much as the destination.
Imagine if I had the freedom in buiness to do these things! I'd soon have to find a way of connecting training to adventure, and I think I've just realised how to do that!
Thanks Natalie of The Suitcase Entrepreneur, I'm another step closer
Question: If you were to wake up tomorrow and were free to do anything you wanted with your life, what would you do and who would you be?
This was a question posed to me and it got me thinking, mulling and pondering for a day or two. Freedom to do anything? Wow - that is the ultimate in freedom - what would I choose?
Initially this threw me....freedom to do anything? Yikes, it was liberating but also scary. Freedom to do anything means no longer having any excuses to not live the life I'd love. Its funny how the excuses to not do the things are really just safety nets we put in our way. Though what are we scared of? Stopping for a second, I'm loathed to accept that its what other people think that stops me. Which comes down to a fear of rejection, of being outcast without love. Oh hang on, if I love myself, does the acceptance by others then feature so much? So here I am, back to the nub of the issue - one that I am aware of - it is work in progress, as is life! Quick reminder to myself - connection without comparison!
Anyway, I digress (and I'm already 8 days late with this blog posting) - the question of WHO WOULD I BE, WHAT WOULD I DO
Well simply, I would be free to be me! Simply me! Despite my fear of rejection and being outcast, I do actually quite like me! I quite like that certain friends and family think that I'm weird or odd with my running, my eating, some of the holistic therapies I practice. I like the quirky side of me though I'm always battling against that inner voice cautioning me to be conservative and middle of the road. Freedom would be simply me without that darn parrot on my shoulder spoiling the fun of being me!
What would I do - I would live simply, oh how I crave to live simply - with minimal possessions, with fresh air, big skies, close to nature, the ocean, the ability to be nomadic, visiting, experiencing different places, staying as long as I like then moving on, living with the ability to stay connected with friends, family, old and new. I would laugh, sing, play, run and dance every day, eating good wholesome food
That parrot is squawking but how? How will you create this freedom - well I have a feeling that's a blog for another day! Thanks to Natalie Sissons of The Suitcase Entrepreneur and her 30 Day Blogging Challenge - it was a great question and got me thinking (for longer than I'd anticipated!)
And so I ask you the same question - if you were free to do anything you wanted with your life who would YOU be and what would YOU do?
Rachel x
They say it takes 30 days to create a new habit. How many times have I started something with the intention of sticking to it, to only find a few days later I'm already way off track. Just 30 days. I mean, c'mon that's hardly a long time to stick something out in the hope it will embed itself! Yet the 30 day sit up challenge, press up challenge, burpee challenge, juicing challenge, meditating challenge all had me failing within a week. Sound familiar?
Yet last month I successfully completed a 30 day Life Spa with Naked Coaching. What was the difference, what made me stick this one with some very positive results I might add?
Timing.
Resonation.
They also say when the student is ready the teacher will appear, just like Aladdin finding the lamp and summoning his genie.
I had just finished an exhausting 5 months working on a community project. During that time I'd also completed my first 100 mile endurance run and celebrated my 100th marathon. I felt I was approaching burn out, my normally healthy eating habits had regressed into a grab whatever processed food was available, my training was zero, I was feeling fat, frumpy, grumpy and exhausted. I promised myself the month of July to get back on track, to re-charge, re-focus. And as if by magic my genie appeared in the form of Mel White with her 30 day Life Spa which was perfect timing and the whole challenge resonated with me. It wasn't difficult to stick to and the habits I re-adopted as a result of the daily challenges, tips and encouragement have definitely put me back on track on a personal level.
So now its August and I turn my focus back to Re-emerging which I neglected a little (ok a lot) during the first few months of this year. Blogging is something I have done sporadically (I can't argue that one - the evidence is here to see) yet I know it is something that not only I SHOULD do but that I WANT to do as I get so much inspiration from other bloggers myself.
So there I was just browsing facebook for some blogging inspiration this morning and up pops Natalie Sissons and her 30 day blogging challenge. Not only does the blogging challenge appeal but also the technical advice and the inspiration from her as The Suitcase Entrepreneur - a lifestyle I aspire to. So here we are again - the moment the student was ready the teacher appeared! The timing is perfect - I am ready to get stuck into blogging and I know I CAN commit to a 30 day challenge as I've just finished one! And it resonates. I actually really want to do this!
I wonder what things you are wanting to and are ready to learn, and I wonder where your genie will come from?! Be open to a little magic ;-)
With love
Rachel x
