Powerful Wisdom From the CR Pop-Up Cafe

Time to read: Time for a few more words. 45 second read.

There was a wealth of wisdom in last week's Corporate Rebel Pop-up Cafe. We talked about recovery and healing. The conversation was so good, I wanted to share it with you.

We've lived through a lot for the past few years, months and weeks. I was consulting with my favorite therapist yesterday and he said, "we are in a 2nd pandemic of mental health issues." Teens and young adults are collapsing. Adults are exhausted. I see it in my coaching clients. Therapists are full. You hear the call for healing on a national and personal level, but what does that mean for you?

The hive on the Corporate Rebel Pop-up Cafe shared what they know about recovery and healing from the challenging times in their lives. Here is their wisdom for you:

• Time: You have to give yourself time to recover and time to heal.
• The basics: Sleep, nutrition, movement, and quiet time (maybe meditation) are all crucial to recovery and healing.
• Individuality: Healing is an individual process. What works for you will be different than what works for your best friend.
• Feelings: You gotta feel 'em. Without drama or story. Simply feel your feelings. Even the despair.
• Compassion: Mostly for yourself. Be where you are without judgment or criticism that you "should" be doing better or "should" be farther along.
• Connection: Connect with others. Recovery and healing is better in relationship.
• Responsibility: You have choices. You choose your path and how you will treat others and yourself as you recover and heal: with anger? with love? with violence? with patience? You choose when to get help.
• Celebration: Celebrate your progress. Yesterday, I put on a dress. I noticed when I drove my car, I was focused in a way I haven't been for months. Those small wins are a cause for big celebration!

I'll put one final thought here: The two important first steps in recovery and healing are knowing that you need it, and giving yourself permission to put your energy toward healing, which can mean going quiet for a while or lowering the bar on "accomplishment" and "success," whatever those mean anyway.

I'd love to hear your wisdom about healing. Or your questions. Please email me and tell me what you're thinking. I always love hearing from you.

Not sure yet when the next Corporate Rebel Pop-up Cafe will be. Watch for it. I hope you can join. The conversations are always amazing and people leave feeling uplifted and calm.

Celebrate!

Time to read: 15 seconds. Take the extra minute you would have spent reading to pause
and celebrate something!

Hello Rebels!

It's my birthday week. Although you all will kindly and generously send me birthday wishes now that I've told you, trolling for birthday greetings isn't why I'm writing about it.

I'm writing about it because birthdays are an obvious reason to celebrate. When I worked in corporate, our department was small enough that we made homemade birthday cakes.

Birthdays are not the only reason to celebrate. In fact, there are thousands of reasons to celebrate and all of them deserve CAKE! Try these on:

• It's Thursday! Thursday is the new Friday. Cake time!
• You sent 100 emails today. You are a rock star of efficiency. Reward = cake.
• You made a live phone call. Yay connection! More cake.
• You have a staff meeting. Bring cake.
• It's Monday morning. Celebrate the possibilities of the coming week. Cake for breakfast!
• You got everyone off to school, fed the dog, and got yourself to the office relatively put together. Eat cake.

See how easy that is? What else can you celebrate?

Happy Everything!

Cake time!

Christina

Does Your Life Feel Like a Run Away Train?

Today I am celebrating the 2-year anniversary of the first newsletter I ever sent. It took me a week to write, and then after sending it, I wanted to hide under my bed. (I was terrified). You can check it out below. (The font sucks, I know. I have come so far. And so have you.)

Here's your assignment for today: Take a look backwards and find something that used to be terrifying and hard that is now an easy part of your routine. Then celebrate yourself and your growth! You deserve it.

I hear from people that the pace of their lives is killing them. They are busy, exhausted, and want to get things under control.
 
Does this sound like your life?
 
Here’s the bad news: Control is an illusion.
 
Here’s the good news: You get to choose (not control, choose).
 
Yes, you really get to choose. You get to let go of the pressure to control and instead, choose how you do your life.
 
With these three strategies, you can start to choose and change the pace of your life from exhausted to elated:

1. Tune in to your calendar – Which to-dos make you happy and excited and which things are there because you feel you should or someone else expectsyou to do them. Dump the shoulds and the expects and do more of the excited.
    
2. Give yourself buffer time and don’t compromise it for other people’s needs. Make sure you have space (even 10 minutes makes a huge difference) between appointments so you arrive fresh, on time, and ready to focus.
    
3. Create white space. In our hyped- up and plugged in world, give yourself the gift of silence and space. Put your phone in the glove box when you drive. When you walk to your next meeting, just walk there – don’t check email and talk on the phone at the same time.  You’ll be shocked how quickly great ideas start to flow in the white space.

The goal is your effectiveness and peace of mind. I’ll be sharing more strategies in upcoming newsletters so stay tuned!
 
I hope this helps.
 
Get out there and thrive!
Christina
 
P.S. If you’re struggling with a runaway train of a life, email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com and tell me about your biggest challenge. I’d love to share some strategies tailored for your situation.

P.P.S. Here is a present for being my first subscribers! Thank you!  Click here  to receive "The Corporate Rebel's Guide to Dealing with a Crappy Boss."

Trading On Your Independence

With the celebration of independence day in the USA, I've been thinking about you and your freedom. Is it weird that while I'm at the lake in Texas with my family, I think of you?

You'll see how this all ties together in a minute.

One of the things you tell me you want most is freedom. 

Then I hear all kinds of magical (read: unrealistic and frankly, undesirable) dreams of freedom like traveling the world with unlimited money, no cares and never having to work. (I've had friends who lived that kind of freedom. A life plan that revolved around spending the winter surfing in Australia and the summer at the house in the Alps left my friends purposeless and depressed. Even that kind of financial and location freedom didn't yield the happiness so many of you really want).

So what's up with this whole freedom and independence thing?

Here are some thoughts to help you decide how freedom fits into your work and life:

• You traded your freedom and independence for things you value (or things you think you value).

For example: You may have aligned your life with a partner. You gained companionship, love, and maybe material security in exchange for having to consider someone else in your decisions. In my life, I am keenly aware that I am not meant to live alone, AND my choice to have a family has certainly cost aspects of my independence. (I remember that every time a child wakes me up at night or my salary goes to pay for music lessons.)

Another example: You have a job. You want to please your boss. You want to do "good" work. You trade your freedom and independence for financial rewards, pleasing others, a sense of purpose, fitting in, and taking your career to the next level.

• Conscious choice is the key to freedom. Did you trade your freedom and independence intentionally? Many people get married, have children, live in certain locations, take certain jobs or pursue certain careers stumbling through the morass of family and societal opinions about your next "right step." You might not know you've traded your freedom until you feel stuck, wonder how the hell you ended up in that mini-van, or something significant changes in your work or personal life leaving you confused about how you ended up where you are and what to do next. This was me 6 years ago.
   
• Freedom is not free. Freedom and independence come with responsibility.When you make the choices, exercise your independence at work, and determine your own schedule, YOU are responsible for your results and failures. When you choose independence, you trade security, stability and shared responsibility. There is no one to blame.

Which brings me back to the lake house. I choose to structure my life and work to give me freedom to travel and raise my children. That means I am responsible to you, each week, with every program I create, and every comment I put in public, regardless of where I am or what I'm doing. My business and all of you go with me everywhere. I like it that way because I've chosen it.

How are you choosing your freedom and independence?

I love to hear from you. Email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com and let me know what you think or join the conversation in the Corporate Rebel HQ Facebook page. All are welcome! Click here to join. 

With Rebel Love,
 
Christina

P.S. You can join more Corporate Rebel fun and insight in the Corporate Rebel HQ Facebook Community. Click here to join. 

Want more freedom, gratitude + badassery in your life?

Estimated read time: Maybe 1 little minute.

The word badassery is fun to say so let's say it as many times as we can. Badassery, badassery, badassery.

It's Thanksgiving in the USA tomorrow, and I am so, so grateful - for my family's health, for the love that surrounds us, and for all of you. I'll be giving thanks in a big way.

The whipped cream on the pecan pie was being invited to participate in my dear friend, Sandra's, interview series, Unleash Your Inner Badass. What she calls badassery (said it again!), we in Corporate Rebel Land call rebelicious.

Thanksgiving is not a traditional gift-giving holiday, and we don't do things the traditional way around here.

Too many people settle for mediocrity, become victims of their circumstances, and simply complain about the way things are. I don’t think that’s you, though. I think you are someone who sees the value of investing in yourself, training your mind, and taking responsibility for your life and the world around you.

That's why I said yes to Sandra (and because I just downright love her). I'm careful with your time and only put things of real value in front of you. Sandra has produced a series of interviews that are fun and meaningful.

These interviews are packed with info to help you:

• let go of what’s holding you back;
• be more unapologetically you;
• build a new, more badass (rebelicious), reality for yourself.

If you're too busy eating and watching the National Dog Show to catch our entertaining and real interview on Thanksgiving, no worries. It will be available for 72 hours. And all the interviews will be available starting December 1 so you can gorge yourself like a Thanksgiving feast.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.