Where Do You Rate on the Worry Scale?

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200 words, Act, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, Fear, fear of failure, health, living in the moment, mindful, power, trust, worry

“Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better.” – Walt Disney

The image above seems to say, “This is how your spirit feels when you let go.”

Many of you provide tips to living well in your blogs.

You use words like mindfulness, living in the moment.

You talk about letting go of the outcomes.

Do what is in your power to do and then let go.

And trust the process.

I’d be lying if I told you that I have this down pat, but I am learning!

If I were to rate myself on a Worry Scale of 1 to 10; 1 being  I never worry, 5 being I worry, but examine why I’m worrying, take action where I can, then let it go and 10 being I’m a chronic worrier, I would select 5 as the norm, and 7 in this moment.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Where would you rate yourself as the norm? At this moment? Do you think worrying is related to gender or the same across the board? What one issue do you worry about the most? If you’re a worrier, how do you manage it?

related post: STOP and Find Balance

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I Doubt It!

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200 words, believe, courage, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, doubts, fear of failure

If we doubted our fears instead of doubting our dreams, imagine how much in life we’d accomplish. ~ Joel Brown

Wow! I love this quote!

If we must have doubts, why not doubt our fears instead of our dreams? I have learned to pay attention when negative self-talk comes into my mind so that I can quickly counteract it with a positive message.

Sometimes when I voice my fears out loud my best friend responds with, “I doubt it!”  Why shouldn’t I do the same? The next time I catch myself thinking…

…that will never work or

who am I kidding? I am not the right person for the job or

no one is going to like this idea

I am just going to say “I doubt it”  out loud!

I really think Joel has stumbled upon something here and doubting our fears has some merit. I really like this quote. I am going to give this a shot!

How about you?

What are some of the fears that come up for you when you envision your future?

Let me know what they are below so that I can say “I doubt it!”

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Dreams, Dragging my Butt, Whiteboards and Other Stuff

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community, courage, Diana Schwenk, dragging my butt, dream, fear of failure, Hump Day Chronicles, joy, mission, passion, perserverance, Purpose, vision

It is our vulnerability that connects us. It is our doubts that make us question what is and prompt us to dream what can be. ~ Schwenkism

It feels like forever ago I hinted at moving in a new direction. Forever ago I boldly announced I was going to follow my dreams, even if no one else believed in them. Even if their direction meant I’d be swimming against the current.

Big words. Big dreams. Yet empty and void as far as taking action. I’ve been dragging my butt and thinking up a million other things I could be doing just to avoid these next steps. I’ve come up with a million excuses as to why my dreams are foolish to protect myself from failure.

I admit it.

I’m not always as tough as I let on. I’m not always as ‘together’  and self-assured as I appear (or try to appear).  And it’s entirely possible, the only person I have fooled in the last few months is ME.

So here I am. Naked before you. Vulnerable. And that’s OK.

And amazingly enough, it’s no where as scary as I had imagined.

In fact, it’s a good and honest place to start!

And starting is exactly what I have begun to do.

My first step was to buy a whiteboard. I’m a visual ideas person and when I’m not able to brainstorm with a team, I use a white board.

It helps me plan. It facilitates a creative process for me: I write on it, step back, read what I’ve written, erase, write some more…well you get the picture!

Ultimately my goal is to develop a plan that will lead me into the next phase of my career and personal life.

Thankfully, I already have my vision and mission statement. So this week I spent some time reflecting on and documenting the following:

Things I love

• brainstorming
• public speaking
• speaking to media
• recognizing and utilizing the gifts in others
• meeting people
• listening to varying perspectives
• exploring new ideas
• telling stories
• being active, getting enough sleep and eating right

I am

• genuine
• a collaborator
• community builder
• spontaneous
• risk taker
• team player
• leader
• generalist/applied visionary
• mission driven
• passionate
• persuasive
• encourager

I thrive

• within a team
• in a creative and open environment
• appreciative inquiry
• quick-paced environment
• when free to manage my time

Skills and strengths

• Direct mail campaigns
• relationship building/stewardship
• donor centric written/verbal communication
• project strategies
• analysis of appeals and response rates
• mediation
• team building
• mentorship

This is not an extensive list by far and I’ve only intentionally included the things I enjoy. It is a first step, an inventory of sorts that will eventually propel me to the way I want to live, love and work.

My next steps include:

• combining and looking for themes in the feedback graciously given to me by my colleagues at my previous positions and incorporating that information.
• The Vision, Mission and Philosophy of a new blog I will be launching (soon I hope)  called The Other Bottom Line.  This blog is meant to be a resource for those in the non-profit world and may include discussion formats, best practices, guest bloggers, interviews, etc. More on that in a later post.

As a Doer, I’m excited to be moving on this and will use my Wednesday Hump Day Chronicles  posts to keep you updated.

I would be remiss if I did not thank all of you including, but not limited to Elizabeth and Kina for your vulnerability, courage and action, Bulldog for your guts in starting a new business, mrsfringe for your perseverance to become a published author, and Louise your recent posts gave me that final push I needed to get the ball rolling. Thank you ALL so much!

It is my hope that sharing my process for the next little while will be just as inspiring to someone out there as your journeys have been to me.

To all of you let me leave this final thought: As awesome as your achievements are, it is your struggling, your doubting, your continuing anyway-ness that make you inspiring and remarkable.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

I am SO open to your thoughts and tips

Feel free to leave them below

Waiting…

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afraid, believe, Calgary, Diana Schwenk, dreams, excuse, faith, fear of failure, inner-voice, living in the moment, snow, spirit, Spring, too old, waiting, walk, weak, winter

The other day one of my friends sent the following tweet:

“Spring, you are such a tease. Let me know when you’re ready to commit and we’ll talk.”

Seriously, spring is a tease!

The boughs of this tree are weighed down with snow

Last week it was 19c that’s about 67f in American!

Her tweet made me laugh – mostly at myself and my own frustration with a winter that seems to be lasting longer than ever.

Waiting for Spring

I have been waiting for spring since February!

The truth is, winter isn’t lasting longer than any other year and I feel this way every year.

Get a grip Diana, after all you live in Canada – why are you surprised?

Well enough is enough.

I need to get out there – with or without spring!

So on Monday in -10c weather

8th Street SW, Mount Royal area

I dressed in layers

put on a hat

grabbed my way-too-expensive down-filled coat and with camera in hand set out for a walk.

Once out there I realized it wasn’t so bad after all.

The sun was shining brightly, causing me to squint and my legs were happy to be moving.

What else I’m waiting for?

Not a fan of waiting at the best of times, my frustration with winter got me to thinking about what else I might be waiting for and why?

If you’ve ever been in a place where you were doing exactly what you knew you should be doing

It used to be said that Calgary has 2 seasons: construction and winter. Lately the two just seem to blend into each other…

and something happened that closed that chapter in your life, you may be able to relate to what I’m about to tell you next.

For the last 2 1/2 years I’ve been waiting out a different kind of winter

waiting for inspiration

waiting for that next opportunity to present itself

waiting for a different kind of spring.

Could it be that it’s time to just stop waiting?

Could it be that I simply need to act and just go do what I am meant to do?

~

But here’s the thing.

I’m afraid.

The Calgary Tower on the right was the tallest building when it was built in the late 60’s. It makes me chuckle to think now that when one is on the observation deck, one can also look up at offices as well as looking down at the folks below.

I have self-doubt.

I could fail and make a fool of myself.

Maybe I’m too old to start something new.

These are not easy things for me to admit.

Even thinking these thoughts (never mind writing them here) makes me feel weak.

Yet I am often encouraging others to take hold of their dreams

to trust their inner-voice

believe in themselves and act accordingly.

It’s time for me to swallow my fears and take my own advice.

I thought items were knocking around in my pocket so I stopped. The knocking continued and I looked up to see a woodpecker and snapped this photo. But I can’t see it in the photo, can you?

Enough is enough.

I need to dress in the layers of my years of experience and believe that they have merit.

I need to adorn my head with all the knowledge I’ve gleaned and believe that it is useful.

I need to cover myself with all the skills I’ve picked up and the value I can bring to my community.

And just walk out that door and do it.

I bet I will find it’s not that bad out there

and when I take that first step in faith

my heart and spirit will just be happy to be soaring again.

I hadn’t been walking (a favourite pastime of mine) because I’ve been waiting for spring.

But on Monday I stopped waiting, dressed for the challenge, went out and enjoyed a long walk.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Is there something you haven’t been doing because [insert reason]?

Wanted – Superheroes – Apply Inside

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200 words, A-Ha moment, Act, Diana Schwenk, dream, fear of failure, passion, Purpose, simple, Truth, world issues

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. ~ Christopher Reeve

Wanted – Superheros – Apply Inside

Why do we feel we need a hero to swoop in and simply state what needs to be done…

bring us to that eye-opening A-HA moment that leaves us wondering ‘why the heck we didn’t see it before’?

The truth is that every hero is a human being.

We all have the capacity to achieve wondrous things.

So If we are inspired and have visualized what could be, shouldn’t we just act?

I once read a quote that said something like, ‘the vessel that has received the vision is the best vessel to carry it out.’

Still we search for that mystical, enlightened, god-like individual who will take us by the hand

and lead us like trusting children to the land of milk and honey.

Why do we do that?

Is it fear of failure?

Is it just easier to accept things as they are?

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

No, I don’t think that is true, do you?

The world doesn’t need a superhero, it needs you.