Wellbeing goes way beyond the physical
Dear Lead with Love Friends,
APRIL CHECK-IN
It has been a whirlwind over here at Lead With Love. We held our final Love In Action live session last week. We are now taking time to reflect and work internally on what Lead With Love will look like as the world begins its slow return to in-person gatherings. We had a heartfelt and impactful session last Wednesday and are excited at all the possibility that lays before us as we begin to navigate a new landscape.
So, for me, this month is about reflection, introspection and embracing potential. I’ve been sharing a lot of wellness practices with you the past few months that address nutrition, mindfulness and movement. I think it is timely for us to start exploring more the concept of WELLBEING, which includes but also goes beyond our bodies.
Lead With Love has been influenced by many respected organizations, including Gallup. In fact, once upon a time, many years ago, we hosted Gallup in Aspen to educate us on the 5 pillars of wellbeing. As we all aspire to strike the best possible balance in our lives, it may be well worth our time to take a closer look at these pillars in the coming weeks. If you are up for doing this together, I’d love to break down each pillar month by month as we begin to move the needle on our overall wellbeing, together.
Here we go! I hope you find this exploration informative and fun and, as always, reach out with your questions and insights.
Career Wellbeing
FROM Gallup: “The first pillar is about how you occupy your time or simply liking what you do every day”
I genuinely hope that everyone reading this wakes up each morning excited and curious about how their day will unfold. It would be lovely if we all hopped out of bed, two feet enthusiastically hitting the ground almost giddy at the prospect of a day spent working with purpose, in collaboration with respected colleagues and energized by proper resources and recognition for our efforts. However, the publicly available data about job satisfaction would paint a less glowing tale of the typical worker. I won’t bore with you those statistics here but it appears a clear majority of Americans are not enchanted by the way they spend most of their waking hours and it is showing up in our rates of mental illness, substance abuse and other unfortunate metrics.
However, there is a very bright light and it has come from a perhaps unexpected source. The pandemic. Yes, COVID has upended in our daily existence in countless ways but some of them have actually been VERY beneficial. And while I would never want to downplay the tragedy of this situation, I will happily acknowledge and celebrate and positive side effects of this trying time.
I’ve read many articles about the phenomenon of how COVID is forcing a spiritual and consciousness reckoning for many people. But, the first-hand experiences have been far more powerful. I have seen dear friends make seismic lifestyle shifts as they reassess what really matters to them and how they wish to spend their time.
Remote work has been a huge part of this movement as has having children spending more time at home and having been forced to spend time away from older family members or those that we cannot travel to see. The restrictions will be lifted as the vaccine rollout continues but some of these changes are here to stay.
I’ve been listening to rumblings from friends that are committing to a more nomadic experience for the long term. Untethered by offices, they are choosing to keep their kids close and attend work/school from far flung locales as they explore the world now, rather than waiting for those soft, golden-lit years of retirement. And, I am here for it!
More and more people are quietly quitting (or at least stepping back) from their online, social media personas and diving deeper into the present moment as they reevaluate to whom they devote their energy. It is as if we have collectively sized up our existence and chosen to live by an ancient credo:
"The unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates
Personally, the pandemic offered me time (requested or not) to take a sabbatical that I had long talked about but avoided from fear. I understood on an intellectual level that simply hitting the brakes and spending time carefully considering my next steps would be a brilliant move but my fear (Where will the money come from? What if people forget about me and my skills? How will I re-enter the world? If I say “no”, will the opportunities dry up?) had stopped me dead in my tracks over and over again. Thanks to COVID, the consulting projects on which I had banked my next year of livelihood dried up almost overnight. I panicked for a hot minute (I am a human after all) and then I realized that the universe had gifted me my long sought-after sabbatical!
I’ve long enjoyed my work. I’ve been pursuing passion and purpose for over 20 years but I was still subject to the same laws of kinetic energy as anyone else. I had found myself pulled along by momentum and sometimes spending my time in service to the needs and wants of others without considering my own soul’s tugging. So, with little choice but to reflect on the next steps, I threw myself headlong into self-discovery. I started making my way through The Artist’s Way. I volunteered to sit in on pitch meetings for my friends who had started a venture firm (a long-held dream career for me) and I took some fascinating classes on Coursera and read a mountain of books. I went against my financial instincts and signed up for a professional/self development cohort. I didn’t seek out a job or a gig or a project. I allowed myself to simply explore and learn and follow my fancy for about 2 months. And, the most fascinating thing happened next.
With more time on my hands, I deepened some nascent friendships and connections and was able to give more of my authentic self to those who sought my counsel or ear or just a friendly presence. I luxuriated in my role as a mother and wife and dog-owner. And I opened up as well. I had heartfelt conversations about my deepest fears and desires and found that the depth of my everyday existence was richer than ever before.
And, after a few weeks, my friends at the venture firm asked me if I would join them as a partner. It was a most unexpected and deliciously welcome opportunity. And I said yes with joy and a deep-seated knowing that I was embarking on the perfect path for me. Unencumbered by other obligations, I had unwittingly created the space for something new and wondrous to arrive.
I realize that the past year+ has been tumultuous and at times excruciating for so many of us. It has been a time to accept and make peace with that which we cannot control or change. But, it is also a time to be curious, to look through the lens of not knowing what is around the next corner. It is a time to hold closer that which matters most to us and to release the old anxieties and worries and insecurities. Rebirth, transformation, change — is rarely achieved without discomfort. For those who are in the eye of the storm of uncertainty, I feel you, I see you and I’ve been there too.
Choosing to find a lesson within a challenge is not blind optimism or a denial of the reality of the situation. It is simply being intentional that you can glean value from your experience because — why not? I hope that the difficulties of this past year have also brought you insight and gratitude for the chance to build your life back in a new way.
in gratitude and service,
Jess
Jess Ewart has been teaching yoga and meditation for 15 years. She completed her 500AWC at Kerala Ayurveda Academy in 2011 and she's been a proud member of the Lead With Love family for almost 6 years.
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FOCUS, DETERMINATION, STRENGTH & PERSEVERANCE are just someof the qualities of a yogi that our partner and advisor Changa Bell (@changabell) exhibits in this bad ass Warrior 3. Changa inspired us earlier this spring as part of the “We Are The New World” on line conference and since then we’ve been following his incredible work as the founder and director of the Black Male Yoga Initiative.