Fearless Fabulous Project

It’s been a while since I’ve dropped down into new surroundings with a need and desire to make new connections.

Sent off to Girl Scout Camp as a child or to College as a young adult required establishing immediate bonds to navigate camp chores or to find the library and dining halls. Also, shared space in tents, cabins, and dorm rooms creates intimacy no matter whom one might choose without assignment. Might as well get along or get out.

Having relocated more than an hour from the Upper Valley area of New Hampshire — my most recent home for the last 15 years — it’s impractical to believe I’ll see any of my old gang as regularly as I might hope. Everything about my day to day and week to week schedule has changed, and I’m changing too.

My husband and I are having our second social event as a couple (a family picnic last June was a very different animal). It’s not a big party and we’ll number no more than ten if all accept our invitation. But it’s a “coming” out of sorts. With two divorces between us, both Roger and I are guilty of having lurked in the shadows for a couple of years. When you feel you’ve failed at something, it’s hard to rally and be out and about making happy with the masses.

Now we have our new shared happiness, and want to join in again. So we’re stepping beyond the comfort zone and inviting others in to share a meal and some laughs. We don’t have any hidden agenda, just a desire to be reconnected with the world and feel safe and accepted beyond our togetherness.

Wish us luck!

I’m going to share fun stuff like this I find along my journey.
These short vignettes at Eric Lerner’s website–some with original music–are a kick!

My favorites are Dreamer and Fortune, filled with exuberance and glee.
Deja and Scared are good reminders about why I returned to self-employment.

Fear? No kidding!

This week I’m inviting a select group of friends and colleagues to participate in my Fearless, Fabulous Project’s Research and Development Group. For 12 weeks, I will work closely with participants on ending mental constipation and taking action on long-held dreams.

This brings out into the open and makes official my own long-held desire to provide coaching as part of my work. I coached several clients years ago for a brief period, before I accepted a corporate communications position in health care. The job effectively ended my foray into coaching as my responsibilities blossomed and other interests held my attention.

But opportunities we’re naturally drawn to reappear sometimes in a better format and when we’re better prepared to explore and master them.

So, almost seven years later, I return to what I had planned way back then as a freelance writer and editor. To transition to coaching and to continue to write…but only about what interests me. [I also share a marketing and business strategy business with my husband.]

I’m braver than I used to be. Before I thought I’d need to be perfect before I could put out my shingle. Now I’m smart enough to know I need feedback and help from others. The only way I’ll get it is to put myself out there, and deal with possible criticism. Older and wiser, I “get” that suggestions for changes and improvement can only make me and my products and services stronger.

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dreams, coaching

June 5, 2006 was my 45th birthday. I consider that about half-cooked in human terms. Thinking that I probably shouldn’t assume that I’ll live beyond the age of 90 (although good health would keep me interested for as long as I get), it struck me that it was way past time to get it together.

If I’m now in the “second half,” I better get to whatever it is that’s been on the back burner…dreamed about but not enacted, planned but not executed.

I had an eventful and varied summer that nudged me bumpily, emotionally, but steadfastly in the direction of my intentions. Although it’s now four months beyond the promise I made to myself, I can see that I am finally incorporating the changes that will make my life better all around.

So, today I formally launch the “Fearless & Fabulous Project: Creative Maneuvers at Midlife.” I do this for my own amusement and gratification certainly, but I believe I am not alone in my view of life at this arbitrary mid-section. If I could help others to create lives filled with passion, fun and fulfillment, I would have honored deep wishes harbored for more than seven years.

I believe many of us hold our collective breath waiting for the perfect moment for our true and bright lives to begin. Today I exhale….

I invite you to play along with me…this is going to be fun.