Where will you be in 3-5 years?
2020 was not just a hard year for many, but it’s made a moulding impact on us.
We changed behaviors. We changed routines, structures. We modified relationships. We placed boundaries on friendships and family that never were there before.
And above all, we adopted a feeling of “just put this off for awhile”: our haircuts, nails, fine dining, trips, seeing family, weddings, funerals, housekeepers, gyms, going into work, going to school….you name it, there’s probably been a “pause button” on it at one time or another.
It means that I’ve been, and am continuing to, condition myself to not do things.
And I also had this weird idea that as soon as the whistle blows and I can get back out there in the world, that I’ll go back to generally what I was doing before.
Except, I won’t. We won’t. We’re different. We’ve changed. Our country has changed. Just because someone will someday give us the “go” sign doesn’t; mean we’ll return to a familiar landscape.
In fact, it’s going to feel pretty unfamiliar for a long time.
This is what made me realize that as I flow to sculpt my future, when I look toward late spring, summer or fall, I still see haziness. I see, “I can’t plan this quite yet, it’s still unclear….”
Turns out, I’ve been and am extending my deferment as far as I can see. My momentum is stopped behind this uncertainty, and I can’t tell when it will stop. And, when it does stop, I have a feeling it’ll land me in an unfamiliar place and not the cozy old one I was in before.
So what to do, right?
I searched and searched and finally found the one, single set of emotional conditions that make me feel I’m rolling again, alive and creating.
It’s this: I just go past this spring, summer and fall. I go just far enough ahead that in the place I land, all this pandemic stuff is long past. And in this place, I don’t feel a return to past circumstances, but instead I feel how all the new circumstances have come together into something so much more beautiful, rich, and positive than I could’ve ever imagined.
Does this make sense? I have to go beyond the limiting uncertainty in my mind to a place where I feel that deferment (that uncertainty) is simply no longer existing. And for me, that’s 2-5 years ahead.
I’m not saying it’ll take that long, of course! But I know that when I go to this place that far ahead, then I feel calm, rebuilt, on track and happy.
This twist of a Flowdreaming technique is working for me, so I wanted to share it with you, too. Because like me, you may have been feeling caught in the swirling motion of circling the drain for so long now that the feeling of “reemergence” is just too slippery to grasp.
So go further out. Go ahead to whatever point where you can feel that long, peaceful exhale—where it’s all over, we are safe, our lives are rebuilt, and, very importantly, we are even better off that we were before.
If you want me to walk you through this feeling, go listen now to my podcast episode 639: The Big Picture. It’s really, really powerful. I also highly recommend this Flowdream.
And, tell me what you think. I know I’m not alone here. Just leave me a note at the end of the post right here.
P.S. I work with a small group of you privately each month to help you go big in your lives.
Would you like to do this with me?
Email me that you’re interested in being my personal student, and I’ll personally reply.
Hey Flowdreamers!
I’m a nurse and a Pollyanna, (lol) so I haven’t been affected much by the “pandemic.” Sick and dying people have been a large part of my world for a long time now. I wear all the PPE all day and then sometimes I forget when I go out after work that others are living in my world now too and I have to keep my mask on. I tell people all day, our culture does a terrible job accepting we are human and we make health a god the same way we do success and money or looks or however else we get off balance. I love Summers notes. They always have some tidbit of wisdom that keeps me thinking and growing and feel good. For me, I’ve been immersed in managing the workload. Looking ahead I want to manifest more freedom and self discipline and focus (?). Who does that make me now? How do I describe myself? Really learned so much from Summer about my own power. Been a flowdreamer and ME School participant for a while, Encourage anyone to go for it. It’s a game changer. Much Love Valerie
I agree that it will be 2 – 5 years before we rebuild our lives. For some, its because of financial considerations. For others, it may be the learning their children had to adjust to. For me, its more rebuilding the social networks. I think the pandemic allowed us to just stop. And when we come back, we can choose what we want. We don’t have to honor the old feelings of I should do this or that. We can choose to allow back in. We have been given time to look at all the things we were involved in. Which ones did we really miss?