launching a new project: 3 tips to prepare yourself …
So here we are again and you are listening to me bleating on about something or other and sipping your coffee/tea/wine (uh, its like 6 in the morning … get help for that, you raving alcoholic) or other such beverage, whilst checking your emails or eating your toast or doing your tax return (I repeat … 6 in the morning, really?) … but I have to insist that you listen to me right now because this is GOLD … I’m telling ya!
Sometimes in our lives we want to get started on a project of some kind … something we have dreamed of doing since we were children, it could be having children … it could be writing that book, starting dance classes, starting your own business … anything that feels like you are launching into something unknown. There are also times when we feel depressed, down, hopeless, lonely … (insert other uncomfortable feeling that makes you feel like rubbish here) and we don’t know where to turn or how to get out of this quagmire filled with slimy creatures, demons and fear and actually get moving … and heres the rub … usually these two feelings happen simultaneously. We want to start but we feel totally unmotivated, lethargic, pessimistic and have no idea what the hell we are doing, so we stay in the unfulfilling job or with the stupid partner or carry on making dick life choices … (at least that is how it was for me, if you are healthy as a horse and bounding with energy like a young gazelle, reading this thinking ‘what the hell is she on about? I’m bounding with energy like a young gazelle and healthy as a horse!’ then move along please, nothing to see here … this is for those of us who are normal! Gazelles have weird legs anyway and horses are dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle … yeah, that’s right!)
This is what I have learned about pulling myself out of this swamp of sadness and helplessness and eventually finding that bandy-legged gazelle within me and starting to bounce again …
Here are 3 things to consider in order to get your balance restored before you launch yourself into anything new:
Get your gut health sorted out!! I can’t begin to tell you how important this is in ridding yourself of negative emotions and finding new energy. Are you depressed? Feeling hopeless? No energy? Panicky? Dragging yourself through the day with a sense of gloom and inertia? Before you go running off to the psychiatrist or ask for anti-depressants … try to find a good nutritionist (you might have to pay for it … just warning ya, but it is worth it … promise!) or holistic healer who can check you out (ooo matron!) for allergies/intolerances to certain food. My life changed completely when I found that I had a wheat allergy and cut it out of my diet and started eating more good fats … for years I had suffered with bladder infections, weird belly complaints, sadness and other unpleasant side effects of this but had never made the connection to what I was actually eating. (Yeah, well … NOW it makes perfect sense but at the time I was distressed, ok?!) I’m not belittling clinical depression or saying that it is not a debilitating and life-threatening illness, my point is simply that in my case symptoms of depression were relieved (A LOT!) by a simple change in diet, so keep yer hair on ballbag! Your brain and guts are TOTALLY connected and any upset in one will cause an upset in the other … Get that sorted and you are halfway to the launch of your new life!
Get some focus back! Once you have taken the time to get your belly and brain on the same page, try to start getting your focus back onto your project. It takes some time and you need to really make sure your guts are working with you here … but to get your focus back is a wonderful feeling. Inspiration flows when you move out of your own way and just allow yourself to feel the energy that surrounds us all. Go for a walk in a forest or park … get back in to nature, the symbiosis of it all will help to show you that we are all part of a greater plan and that being alone and afraid should never be the dominant feelings of a wondrous being such as yourself! Stop watching tv and reading so much rubbishy news and start trying to shift your perspective back to finding what you really want out of this life and your new project. Define objectives … for example one of mine is: ‘I want to be a successful yogi-artist because I want to use my creativity to inspire people to challenge and question their belief systems’ Try to reduce your hours in the crappy job (if your project is a new employment venture) or if that isn’t a possibility, try not to invest so much energy in it anymore. Give your energy to what gives you energy and don’t get involved in silly power squabbles or people nonsense … try to ignore the idiot who offends you or the ‘friend’ who puts you down (when this happens, it’s actually not about you anyway … these people are suffering in their own way) and keep your mind on your project … these folks will fall away eventually if you stop investing in the relationship. You don’t need em anyway! Screw those guys!
JUMP, dude!! (Aaah, you knew I would have to get a bit shouty at some point in this post … it can’t all be intelligent … not with me!) Just do it! Start something … BUT only when you feel healthy again. Give yourself time to recover properly and have patience! If you get your body and mind working together there ain’t nuthin you can’t handle, you epic creature of the world!!
