A journey to find the right answer, right now…
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with my online public persona.
In example, for years I used an alias name for most of my online accounts because I didn’t want anyone to truly see me.
I am introverted and painfully private at times, so staying under the radar with my online persona felt just fine.
Then, a few years ago, once I got serious about running my online business, I decided to break through the internal barrier that kept me from sharing parts of my life with the public eye.
I did this because I admire others who put themselves out there, vulnerable, raw, and seen. I wanted to be that type of inspiration for someone else.
Most of all, it felt good to be seen and to share, so I carried onward with my online presence.
Yet, what brings me to this post is that since I’ve become pregnant, this life for public consumption idea has been so challenging, again.
At first it was I had morning sickness that made anything but the necessities tiring. Blogging, instagramming, or tweeting felt so strange and weird. I honored where I was, but it also frightened me a bit.
My question that needed to be answered: I had spent 2 solid years building my new business and now was I going to disappear? All the business classes and coaches and blogs I read tell me that I have to keep up my online persona in order to succeed!
Well, 8 months in to my pregnancy my online persona is still there, but I check in less frequently. I wondered for a really long time if this leave of social media-ing was right, but the answer kept coming clear:
Do what works for you, not what anyone else says it the right way.
YES, I will lose followers/fans/likes during my time away.
YES, my blogs won’t be syndicated on major publications for a while.
YES, my business will have a closed sign for 6 months to one year.
NO, I will not be falling into a pit of guilt about this new phase of my life.
YES, it feels really good to follow my gut and do what feels right to me.
For me, there’s a joy to missing out when I am following my emotions, my gut instinct, my true answers.
I feel the freedom of JOMO at it’s finest. ( Check out this podcast from Note to Self about the Joy of Missing Out, aka JOMO. )
Today, I want to share with you on how to find the best answer for deepest questions at this moment in time.
A guide to find your voice, follow your gut, and listen to your instinct:
1. Ask yourself the question that you yearn to have an answer for.
2. Give yourself time to pause after you ask the question you desire an answer for.
What do you hear first as an answer?
3. If you hear nothing, creatively imagine your life with answer A. Deeply imagine the way it looks, tastes and smells to live with answer A.
How does it feel to imagine your answer A in your life?
If you feel scared, fearful, frightened, confused with answer A, make note of this.
Does the answer A feel tough or does it come easy?
4. Sit with your thoughts, write it out, let it be.
5. Imagine your life with answer B. Deeply imagine the way it looks, tastes and smells to live with answer B.
How does it feel to imagine life with answer B?
Write out the emotions that come with answer B.
6. Which answer came with more ease? Which answer seems to linger in you even after the questioning is over? Which answer feels most authentically you? Which answer, when you imagine it, feels the easiest to experience?
The answer that fits all the criteria above is your answer.
Chances are, you will have more clarity if you allow yourself space, time, and quiet to hear the answers arise you.
If you do not have an answer, even with exercising your instinct, give your question time. The answer almost always comes with the gift of time.
[Tweet “There’s a creative knowing that is born from your most uncertain times. Live and dwell in that mystery today, and the answer you seek will arrive. “]
Where you find your voice, in all areas, comes from the silence you give yourself to LISTEN.
The beauty of this exercise is that no matter where you are in your life, you can access your intuition.
I leave you with this:
You’ve got this. All the information you need is within you.
You are enough.
E m b r a c e,
Rose