I’ll bet you didn’t realize that near the top of the list for life survival skills is surfing did you? Just like the ocean our lives bring us the ebb and flow of exploration, circumstances and events. At times the ebb and flow stays in rhythm and you can enjoy basking in the balance it provides. Then there are times when the waves get bigger and you may not see “the big one” until it hits you. Bam! You weren’t expecting that to happen.
But my question to you is, how do you deal with it? When I occasionally go to Facebook what I’ve noticed is that many people think that’s a place to bitch and moan about every little thing that happens in their lives. Why would you want to put all that out there for the public to consume? Why would you want to show other people that day in and day out all you do is complain about everything that is wrong in your life? The kicker is, with that type of focus, it will be quite difficult to find anything right. Because all you’re doing is looking for what’s wrong. What you focus on expands.
I had a bit of an unexpected wave hit me in the last month. I was experiencing some dental issues and much as I didn’t want to go to the dentist it wasn’t going away. After getting a second opinion it was confirmed that my body had been treating one of my teeth like a foreign object and it had to come out. Well damn!
During this process I had a choice, to get upset, fall apart and feel a victim of having to lose my tooth—or to get the facts get the best dental care I could and deal with it. It never occurred to me to have a “why me?” party. It’s a waste of energy and wouldn’t help a thing, so I collected the info of my options, selected the dentist and surgeon I wanted to work with and scheduled the surgery. The silver lining I realized immediately is that I have dental insurance for the first time in seven years. My body kept courageously fighting the infection until I was in a place where I would have help to take care of it. That’s synchronicity at its finest.
I made the choice to ride the wave knowing it won’t last too long and life will go on. It’s not the end of the world. My surfing lessons came in handy.
What I didn’t expect was what happened after the surgery. As I drove home, I experienced a huge amount of anger and frustration that boiled over and I had no choice but just to let it out. So I did, also knowing that by letting it out I’d feel much better. Our emotions find so many places in our bodies to hide! The intense anger was followed by extreme exhaustion which again I had to honor and let my body rest.
I’m still learning after many years of stuffing down my emotions that it is much more beneficial to let them out. I never “did anger,” until my late forties, I didn’t want to feel the way anger made me feel. But by letting it out instead of stuffing it down and trying to ignore it, it was gone in less than a day.
If I hadn’t learned how to surf and ride the waves, my old unhealthy patterns of behavior would have surfaced and those are places I’m unwilling to go do again. I much prefer to stay conscious and live my life in awareness of what is happening around me—and in me. I always look for the lesson, the silver lining, or where this particular wave is taking me, because I always end up in a better place.
So, I’ll ask again—have you learned to surf the waves in your life? If you don’t learn now when the big one comes you’ll get knocked over and it won’t feel good. Call or email me today to schedule your first surfing lesson so you can live your life without stressing about the outcomes and enjoy the ride.
PS – We’ve changed our schedule for Weekly Tips: look for them on Tuesday mornings.
Coach Lori
Performance Coach, Motivational Speaker, Award-Winning Author
Visit Learn2Balance for more information on Lori’s Performance Coaching Programs
