Don’t Bleed to Death

During at networking event yesterday which took place at a gallery the host proposed the following activity:

In small groups each member would think of an important question we were grappling with in our lives or businesses. We’d then grab a number from a bag -bingo style-and head over to the painting marked with the same number to find our answer.

It is no surprise that it is always easier to look at other people’s challenges and guide them to balance, answers, ideas. But it is harder to do it for ourselves because we don’t only see the facts. We feel the situation. We fear the outcomes. When we transform our challenges into questions, however, answers seem to come a bit more easily.

In my quest to balance financial and emotional wealth, I teach my mentees a lot through mirroring back and offering an alternative interpretation to their situation. A way to do this for ourselves is journaling, talking to ourselves in the second person, asking advise from people we trust. I do all of these, but somehow these past weeks it has been harder to get perspective. Putting in the effort for a year non stop and getting some results but not all that you expect can feel tiring and overwhelming. So the question I have been asking myself lately is whether or for how long should I continue with my endevor.

Back to the activity at the networking event I asked the question “should I continue?”. I took my number. 18. I headed over to the painting. It was an asbtract figure of a woman from behind wearing a backless red dress and seemingly dancing or walking forward with the wind making the fabric of her dress wave in the air. My immediate answer was: continue as long as you don’t bleed yourself to death. I could have interpret it as a woman dancing tango, enchanting the room where she dances. But my mental state saw blood instead of a red dress.

Most times we have the answers to our own questions. It’s just that we don’t always find one we like so we keep searching. I don’t want to give up after a year of effort. I feel the pressure, but I also see the possibilities. I would regret giving up this soon. But how do I know I am not pushing myself beyond my limits to then regret that? I don’t know, but the only way I know to keep myself in check is by adding some deadlines and targets. If they are met by then, the show must go on. Otherwise, I will need a plan B.

Have a Monday,
Maria 🌺