Your Shit Is A Mess
“Your shit is a mess”.
What a line.
How would you feel if someone said that to you? Especially if it was someone you cared deeply about.
It would hurt.
You might get offended.
You might snap back at them in defense of yourself.
You might stare silently at them in shocking disbelief. (I mean, like, how could they!)
Or you might realize that cold water they threw in your face shocked you because it’s true. And you might truthfully admit to yourself . . .
5 Empowering Words of the Year
And those five words are my favorite movie line takeaways of 2020. The movie, “Definitely Maybe”, is a 2008 rom-com that somehow made the Netflix 2020 playlist. And I’m so glad it caught my scrolling attention because it is a line of epic proportions . . . if you hear it realistically.
But hold that thought for a moment. We’ll get right back to it . . .
A Happy Intermission
Because before we go any further, I want to interrupt this “shit (is a mess)” show to say
Happy New Year!!
I do sincerely wish you a “happy” “new” year.
However, I wasn’t really in the mood to send out the obligatory “Happy New Year” newsletter recapping everything that we did or didn’t do in 2020 mainly because I don’t believe looking back necessarily propels us forward so I wanted to focus on moving along.
Your Life Doesn’t Have to be a Shit Show
There’s no escaping the fact that 2020 was an unprecedented year of unexpected and continuous chaos. My sincere sympathies go out to anyone who suffered loss of loved ones from covid.
However, when the pandemic hit and the world Zoomed forward to work, play and learn, I scaled back. I even stopped this newsletter, which was fairly new. Yup. I clammed up. Shut down my thoughts. Took a breather and reflected, what the heck just happened! And what do I do about it?
I took some time to clear my physical and mental space, which opened up creative opportunity in my professional space. Yes, I stumbled. No, I didn’t pull off everything I was hoping to pull off. I still have MUCH to do. But I tried to stay focused on:
- “reassessing” – everything I could no longer do due to the changes the pandemic presented;
- “restructuring” – figuring out new ways to do things and determining if some things should simply end; and
- “recalibrating” – because, ya, I was as exhausted as everyone else.
I may not get the Emmy for my daily performance, but I definitely get an A for effort. And I’m okay with that because to me, effort matters.
And then this happened . . .
During the final days of 2020 I saw so many social media posts celebrating the fact that 2020 is over.
“What a year it’s been. Here’s to 2021.”
“2020 is over. Yay! We made it.” – (Did you? What did you make of 2020?)
“New Year, New Me!” – (Awesome! What’s new about you?)
I get it. Hey, Happy New Year!
But look out, I’m about to throw more sobering cold water in your face.
The calendar changed. Did you? Because if you didn’t change anything about yourself, your work, your relationships, your goals, your whatevers, in 2020, then there is nothing that a calendar page change is going to do for you.
Don’t let that revelation wreak havoc on you, though. It’s not the end of the world. Or your life. It’s the end of a calendar year. It’s a new year, a new day, a new page, a new chance to . . .
Turn the self-reflective question “My shit is a mess?” into . . .
“My shit is together”!
How?
Back to the Shit Show
We the people of planet earth can be pretty hard on ourselves. We compare ourselves to others. We lose confidence in our goals because we go from feeling excited to feeling like everybody else’s pursuits are cooler than ours. We tell ourselves we’ve failed instead of looking at things as lessons.
We really don’t need critics. We are our worst.
Don’t beat yourself up but don’t live in denial. If you dare to not live in denial, then you realize that somewhere in your life your shit is a mess. Don’t host a pity party, though, just join the ranks. We’re all a mess.
Even when we’re on our game and working diligently at our goals, sometimes things don’t happen as we’d like. And that’s okay, too. Again, no pity party, please. Instead, stop and take a look at where you are in that goal and ask yourself: am I really working strategically on my goal or am I all over the place? Am I busy but not really productive? Am I creating a (insert goal) or am I creating the dream of one?
If your stomach cringed reading this newsletter then guess what?
Your shit is a mess . . . somewhere.
Admit it.
Figure out where.
Then use those five words to enlighten and empower you!
Conversation Starters:
- How did the statement “your shit is a mess” make you feel?
- Do you think your shit is a mess? Somewhere in your life?
- Can you turn “My shit is a mess” into a mantra, playfully repeating it every now and then to keep you motivated? Try it, it’s actually fun.
- Try saying this: “My shit is a mess about (choose an area or issue) and now that I admit it I am going to change it.
