My Blog: Finding my flow

Week 2 in developing my blog…

“…The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits…”

I bit the bullet and am officially paying for this web site!  

As I lay in bed each night this past week I couldn’t stop thinking about what I wanted to do next. My mind has been buzzing with so many ideas that I had to force myself to take deep breaths in order to focus. I haven’t felt this excited, since….the birth of my last child?

I’ve been taking baby steps even though my mind has taken giant leaps. This is how I know I am heading in the right direction. Each day I literally can’t wait to move forward on my plan.

I found my “flow”.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote a book called “Flow”, and according to him, “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

Csikszentmihalyi discovered that people find genuine satisfaction during this state called “flow”, where they are completely absorbed in an activity, especially an activity which involves their creative abilities. (https://medium.com/the-mission/to-be-insanely-creative-you-need-to-find-your-flow-44ca9b905ae1)

My newly discovered flow has created an extra spring in my step and purposeful action, where I have:

• Determined my niche/main theme (hopefully it comes out loud and clear)
• Worked on my site. I’ve been exploring Squarespace through trial and error.  
• Wrote my “About Me” section and two stories – “What’s in a name?” and “The Climb Up Mount Kenya – A Lesson in (Not) Planning”
• Joined a 5-module course through Heather & Pete Reese who own the blog itsalovelylife – really great tips here and a really good Facebook site for support and sharing ideas!
• Set up a consultation meeting with Rebecca Grace who knows Squarespace and can (hopefully) speed up my learning curve on this one.
• Purchased two domain names, one for my blog; and because I wanted it, my name.

It’s amazing what you can do in your flow. With a full time job, two young kids and other interests I’m really surprised at where 10 days has gotten me.

In order to step into my flow, I realized I first had to take time to reflect…..

My husband has a very flexible career and life style.  I have a 9 to 5 job, so flexibility in his life has been a real advantage in providing balance for our family. For example, if one of our children is sick and I have a busy day at work, he can pick them up and watch them.

Being in our mid and late 40s with two children under age five, we often find ourselves dreaming of the days where we can comfortably retire. Jokingly, Derek presents two sides for my future career. On the one hand, he announces I should find more permanent employment (I’m currently in a contract position) with benefits and paid vacation.  On the other hand, he suggests that maybe I should find a job where I can set my own hours and vacation time.

He’ll often says “You need to start a business…” as though my Business degree is enough and will make me automatically successful!  Sometimes he’ll often come home talking about needs or gaps in the real estate or manufacturing industries, throw out an idea and then say “Ok, now you take it from here.”  Yeah. Right. I usually laugh at him when he says this. But it also frustrates me. “I can’t have both!” I express with exasperation. “Tell me…what do we want more? Stability or flexibility?!”

More and more I have read about people who are successful with their blogs and social media presence. But, until recently, I never really paid attention.  I figured they had something extra special to offer, something “extra” I could never bring.

Until one day, when a switch went on for me.  Why can’t I too have a job with flexibility to travel, or to spend more time with my family?  And even if this is a complete failure, I am doing what I love!

They say that reflection is one of the most important components of learning.  It’s not just about “doing” something. It’s also about thinking back/reflecting on it. John Dewey,  an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer said, “We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.”

In reflecting on my experiences in life and in my profession, I started to see where my passions lie.

There’s more to me than my learning and development profession. I love being creative – researching, writing, sharing, telling stories, developing presentations, and creating learning opportunities for others.  Why not look beyond the stable walls of an office building and 9 to 5 job and look outward – and see what happens?

So I am. Here.

Here I am in literally two weeks into my journey.  And I am feeling motivated and inspired to keep going. It’s the very very very…early stages, but I took the first step, and that’s always the most difficult (I should know – it’s taken me 20 years to finally do this!).