Wednesday 5 January 2011

Looking at it a different way..

I was at a party over Christmas when i got into a conversation about what i did for a living.Now since returning from overseas last summer, i have been working part time in an area i would rather not be. I no longer saw myself in that role, and really quite resented having to work two days a week doing something i saw myself as having moved on from.This was despite the fact that the role is very different to my past one, i can more or less choose the days that i work, and can do the work with ease.

It occurred to me as we were talking, that from where the person i was talking to was standing, i had been handed a gift. In fact, those were the words which i used as i described my situation.They just fell out of my mouth as i was talking-i started to describe what i did, and it struck me what i actually had....

Setting up my Coaching business would always have meant having to do something else part time for a while.This job, the one i had sleepless nights over at the beginning, had actually allowed me to persue the very lifestyle i longed for, and provided the luxury of not only time, but meeting the vision i had for my future, the very vision i had created and described in a journal, months before.It also paid the mortgage while my husband and i settled back into life in the UK after years overseas.

 'Creativity, flexibility, variety and freedom...that is my daily working life.' Those were the words i had written; i've just been to check them. As i talked to my friend at the party, it came flooding to me that i possesed all those things in abundance. Every morning i get to wake up and do something different; i have five days a week where i have to be nowhere except where i choose to be, and i can arrange the working pattern of my day.The other two days, i work in a job where i am well paid, respected and make a difference.I am free to get my coaching business off the ground, develop my website and spend time on my crafting business too.

Looking at my life differently, i realised how grateful and lucky i am to be where i am now. It struck me how powerful it can be to reframe a situation, and examine things from a different angle.When i was wallowing in self pity, all i had needed to do was to appreciate what i had. Simple. Make a list of the positives and just say thank you.Choose to be grateful.

I asked for a gratitude journal for Christmas, and the first difference this week will be to start filling it in.Every day.