Life can be bumpy and there are distractions every where but in all the diversions it's always our choice to turn back, keep moving forward or make a new path.
We took a summer white water rafting trip to Idaho. Our guide Maggie gave us a safety briefing before we got started. Told us what to look out for, how to position our bodies if we fell out of the raft and started floating across the rapid. So many instructions! Does anyone really listen?
I was fairly confident no one was going to fall out of the boat. Based on our last rafting trip in which there was no guide, I was feeling even more confident this trip. We had a knowledgable person to show us the way. My preconceived ideas were all wrong.
As we went across several rapids on our two hour journey, I fell out. We were all paddling along hard, listening to Maggie's instruction over the roar of the waves when I felt like something bumped me just enough to be tossed right out of the safety of the raft. Head under, pushed around by the water, I bobbed up with a smile on my face. What just happened?
I was lucky I didn't hit a rock, or get scraped up by what lay underneath the water. What I heard was Maggie yelling "Swim to the boat." When I reached our raft my boys pulled me back on board by my life jacket and we all had a good laugh because it's all caught on video. Laughs for years!
Yet it left me wondering...what did I do wrong? No one else fell out. Did I lose focus? Did I miss a step? Did I get distracted with the paddling and forget to put my feet in the right place? Yes and yes! Isn't that life? We're going along paddling hard through the tough parts, putting our head down to focus on this one hard thing when something unexpectedly throws you right off course.
Distractions can throw you right off your focus.
What's taking you away from where you should be right now? As we get closer to September, I know there's going to be a slew of distractions. Life ramps up with all the school activities for my high school senior. My work takes on a faster pace which means I need to get really clear NOW before the busy hits.
It helps to have a guide, telling you what to look out for, where to put your feet when it gets bumpy, when to paddle and which direction to go. It helps to have a contingency plan. What if you've never navigated these rough waters before?
I had preconceived ideas based on another rafting trip but it was a different trip. I was sure in a big raft with all four of us AND a guide that this was going to be safer and easier. While the guide was no doubt a safer options, it didn't mean there wouldn't be bumps! She was able to tell us where the rapids were, when to paddle hard and when to let up. That was incredibly valuable.
Often times we know where we are right now and we have a goal (weight loss, less stress, more time, meal planning, boundaries, etc.) but we can't see the straight path to get there. There's no GPS, no one to help us navigate the bumpy path and we get distracted. We lose focus, get stuck, get overwhelmed and often quit. We don't know where the bumps might be, when to paddle hard, and when we can let up.
If you're finding yourself in a rough patch, I want to encourage you to get back on course. The beauty of life is that you always have the opportunity to move and change it up. Do something different if right now isn't working for you. If you always do what you've always done, you're never going to get a different result.
How do you avoid distractions?
When you course correct your path, be really present and get focused on your target. Decide where you're going, act and notice what your distractions are telling you.
Our distractions reveal what we love, trust, or fear most. Are you listening? We so often hurry this process along only to get distracted by the same things over and over. Do you have a sacred space of quiet to hear what these distractions are telling you?
Take a moment today and reevaluate where you're going. Maybe you've been so busy with your head down taking care of all the things that you haven't noticed how far off course you've gotten. Distractions! It's time now. Take a look and take steps to start moving back into alignment and into integrity with who you were meant to be.
Looking for a guide to help navigate the bumpy road ahead? Jump into the 90 Day REFRESH program! The next cohort starts 10 September 2023 and I can't wait to welcome a new group of working women into our community!