It was December 26, the day after Christmas, 10 days after my daughter’s first birthday. I was sitting on the floor, coiling Christmas lights, when I tried to stand up. Almost immediately, I sunk back down to the floor.
I was tired, physically and emotionally. Even my soul felt tired. How did I get here?
Six weeks after the birth of my daughter, I chose to jump back into the whirlwind of busyness — airplanes, travel and meetings — striving to build my consulting business. I spent the entire first year of her life haunted by my ego as I frantically tried to grow my business, serve my clients all over the world and prove to myself that I was needed and valuable.
This was all part of something bigger for me personally. I wanted to live up to my image of the successful woman: smart, driven, professionally accomplished; a Mary Poppins mom; a loving wife; a leader in the community. That superwoman was my gold standard, and I had spent years, and especially the previous year, trying to live up to it.
But now, on December 26, I’d awakened only to realize that as much as I was chasing the dream of the superwoman, I wasn’t living my life.
The words of Socrates, “Beware the bareness of a busy life,” were suddenly eerily real. It was time for me to face my fears and make bold choices about my life and the way that I worked.
I started to make these bold choices for my life, with three key strategies that not only anchored me as I picked myself up that December 26 but also continue to support me today as I work to overcome my fears and build a life where I live fully.