My Christmas Eve celebration reminded me why so many people get bored at work and are stuck in a loop.
Let me tell you about it. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, you can apply this to any traditional holiday you celebrate.
This is how I celebrated Christmas Eve this year.
Picnicking on a California beach with a friend, her baby, and her dog. (socially distanced)
…and contemplating a majestic sunset.
This was one of the best Christmas Eve celebrations I’ve had.
Do you know why it was one of the best?
Well, because it was different than the norm, what is said “we are supposed to do” to celebrate Christmas.
what we learned “we should do.”
what we keep repeating over and over again automatically without questioning it, without asking ourselves if we enjoy it or not.
We just follow the rules we were taught.
And we get bored; things get flat, uninteresting. They lost their flavor.
We are on automatic pilot.
Have you experienced that?
The same happens with work for many people.
We follow the rules of society about what work we should do, why we should do it, and how to choose it.
We don’t question them.
We continue on automatic pilot.
We don’t ask ourselves if we like that type of work or not, if we enjoy ourselves. Asking if we like it is out of the equation.
We follow what the mainstream is saying we should do.
We make choices based on society, instead of our own.
We lose joy; we get bored; work does not have flavor or meaning and we wonder why.
We need to break the rules to find our joy and nourishment again.
As I did for Christmas.
Break the rules of conditioning.
Find what makes you happy, what brings you joy.
To discover the work I do now and that brings me joy, I had to break the mold of what I was told I was “supposed to do” to follow what made my heart sing.
It is not an easy path. It requires facing your fears and sometimes the judgment or incomprehension of others, maybe even people close to you. But this is the only way to find joy again in your work. It is one of the most rewarding journeys you can take in your life. When you love your work, everything changes for the better: your relationships, your happiness, your health, and more.
Having a guide on the journey makes it much easier. A guide who has been where you want to go.
If you—or people you know—are interested in getting support to discover the work that lights you up, apply here to have a conversation with me.
I’m currently taking some time off for the holidays, but I’ll follow-up with you as soon as I’m back in my office in early January.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
However you celebrate (or don’t), do it your way, the way that makes your heart sing!
Isabelle
P.S. to clarify, when I’m writing about “breaking the rules,” I’m not encouraging to go against the Covid safety guidelines. All of this is done in the context of keeping ourselves and others safe. We can stay safe and find creative ways to enjoy ourselves.
In
the past few days, my attention has been pulled towards and literally
“sucked into” the current health concerns in the world. To
the point where it has been hard NOT to think about it constantly or to
stop checking articles about it, and focus my attention elsewhere.
I’m giving myself lots of grace around it. (and I invite you to do the same) The atmosphere around it is quite intense.
I don’t regret it as I’m learning what I need to learn so that I can act from LOVE to be of support to family, friends, and our big Human family.
However, this week is a BIG week for me in terms of sharing my message out and stepping into BIGGER visibility. I’ll be Interviewed on Facebook Live and on a TV show; I just launched my new website.
So, I realized I needed to find a way to FOCUS back on what I’m up to in the world and pull my attention away from the trance we are getting lost into.
This afternoon, I made the decision to take a break from checking or discussing the virus, to focus on the preparation of the two interviews I have this week.
Two
hours into preparing them and connecting with the core of the message I
want to share and why the world needs to hear it, and I felt my JUICE and EXCITEMENT back again!!
I was connected back to my PURPOSE on this planet and why I’m so PSYCHED about it.
My inspiration was flowing and several times, I got myself saying out loud: “There is a BOOK here that needs to written!” “I’ve a BOOK that wants to come out of me.”
My message needs to be shared more broadly in the world to help more people.
So, what can you do today to move your attention away from the current situation, take a break from it, and connect with JOY and INSPIRATION again?
It starts with making a conscious decision to do it and to focus on something else that brings you joy, and let yourself dive into it.
…and to STOP checking news, articles, and such for a little while, even if it is just for an afternoon or a day.
Try it even just for a little while and let me know how that goes.
With love, Isabelle
P.S. I’m excited to announce I’ll be interviewed this Wednesday at 10 am PT on this awesome Facebook Live show. Watch the interview live at facebook.com/the3burns
I mean: answer it honestly, without censoring yourself to make a good impression or worrying about what people think about what you love?
If not, that may be one of the things stopping you from finding the career you love.
I’ve seen it with several of my clients.
Some just cannot answer that question.
Others have negative judgments (or even shame) about some of the things they TRULY ENJOY doing and they hide them.
How can you find the work you love if you don’t know what brings you TRUE JOY and HAPPINESS or if you are thinking it’s not okay to love what you love?
It is very hard.
The first step is becoming aware of what you enjoy and what your unique ingredients of fulfillment. are, independently of what people think or what you think these “should” be.
This is why we start with that in my coaching programs.
A good way to begin is to collect your happiness (or even “micro happiness”) moments at the end of the day or week. At the end of the day, take a journal and write down the moments, even brief, when you experienced joy during your day or week.
Keep me posted on what you find!
To the work that brings you JOY!
Isabelle
P.S. One of the things that bring me joy and that I used to hide and be embarrassed about is FASHION and dressing up. I used to judge it, thinking it was “superficial” and “not smart enough” to like fashion and beauty. Fashion is often poo-pooed in our hyper-masculine and hyper-analytical western cultures and considered “weak” or “superficial.” I am not hiding it anymore! This is part of who I am and I own it. I’m not less smart because I LOVE fashion.
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