Driving Change on a Road Trip | LAYC35

Well...

That summer flew by quickly.

Yes, my friends, here we are...

We're back together, and it's September, 2021.

I am back in the podcast booth, after a hiatus this summer.

I had the privilege and the joy, of taking 4 weeks off, and going back to

Canada to visit family and friends.

Create some new memories, relive old memories, celebrate

good times and good fortune.

I hope that your summer was equally joyful.

So here we are, September 1st...

Starting a new season...

And although I know that the calendar says that autumn doesn't

begin for a couple more weeks...

For me, the beginning of September and Labor day weekend have

always signaled a big change.

It's a change of a page of the calendar and a change of temperatures.

Normally, especially if you're in Canada, we start to get cooler in September.

It's a change of wardrobe, change of gears, change of attitudes...

Because we're going to talk about road trips in a little bit.

It's a change of lanes.

I'm introducing the theme for a new series of episodes in the Lift As

You Climb Movement about change.

How change is necessary, to support us, to continue to climb and

grow, so that we lift ourselves, and we are able to lift others.

Although change isn't always pretty or fun...

It's necessary.

So to set the stage for this topic and this theme that we're going to explore.

Let me share a little bit about my time in Canada.

I was treated royally and loved on by everyone.

I had dinners that were just over the top wonderful...

and winery tours, and lots of great wines to drink...

And...

boat trips and swimming in lakes, and pools and ponds.

And there was even a skinny dipping adventure...

Fortunately not caught on film.

I sat under stars and dreamt of a future as bright as those stars.

I played board games and card games, and met new members of my

family I had not previously met.

Oh, and laughed and rehashed old silliness and adventures of the past.

Then I also carved out some time just for me.

I knew how important it was for me to sacrifice spending time with the

people I loved before I went back to Canada, and spend some time with myself.

To give myself some extra love and grace.

The months leading up to this trip for me, were just chaotic and stressful, and busy.

In fact, the last couple of years have been pretty much like that.

COVID has been a time where I threw myself into a lot of re-invention

and learning and transformation.

But I still felt like I...

I wasn't fully baked yet...

You know, like there was this mushy uncertainty?...

About what my future would look like and really...

What was it that I truly wanted?

If you watched the Netflix series, Lucifer, you know, his

super power is asking people...

What is it you truly desire?

Until a couple of weeks ago...

I'm not sure even Lucifer could have gotten a straight answer out of me.

I had such a spaghetti mess in my brain about what it was I really wanted...

What was right for me?...

Now, at this stage of my life.

And so, I went off on magical mystery tours.

Just me...

And my thoughts, in the vehicle...

for hours of driving.

Now fortunately, I love to drive, and so that's not arduous for me...

In fact, it is very cathartic.

I love that time alone with a bag of red licorice, and just allow my

subconscious to flow on autopilot.

I find there's something magic about the realization that if I look forward

through that great big windshield and look up on the horizon...

It's so much easier to see what it is I truly want.

When I am in my busy every day life...

Where there are so many distractions around me...

That can muddle my thoughts and tangle my spaghetti...

You know...

I'm checking email and I'm getting Facebook messenger notifications and

WhatsApp notifications and text messages.

And, putting on the laundry and I'm feeding the cat, and I'm

thinking about a trip to the grocery store, and planning meals...

And, and, and...

Always being busy and saying...

I should have...

I must do that...

I need to do that.

But when you're behind the steering wheel of a vehicle that's equipped

with all the greatest safety features and cruise control...

It kind of frees up a lot of bandwidth mentally.

I'm not completely an idiot...

I'm present to the environment around me and the traffic and road conditions.

But I have a lot more capacity to allow my brain to process

and sort out a lot of stuff.

Occasionally I look in that rear view mirror, and the side mirrors, and I

check what's behind me, and what's beside me, and what's going past me.

But it's that recognition that I only need to spend a brief moment...

Seconds actually, on looking back and off to the sides...

My attention needs to be mostly on looking forward, up and out...

And like a safe driver...

I am aware that my vision shouldn't be right in front of my vehicle...

But it should be broader, more encompassing...

So that I see truly what's ahead.

And I have an opportunity to take a detour when appropriate, to change

lanes in time, when I need to...

To make sure that I don't miss an opportunity to take a different road...

To take a detour that takes me to someplace new and

unexpected and unplanned.

I love getting lost on purpose, and not controlling the destination...

Not controlling the route to get there...

But allowing my imagination and my intuition to come up with the plan...

To come up with the route...

And to allow my subconscious guidance system to keep me safe.

If I can turn off the chatter all around me and be present with my

thoughts, the clarity about the changes I want to make comes to me.

Over the next few episodes.

I'd like to talk about some of the learnings and the AHas, and the catalyst

that I discovered along those trips.

But today, I want to share one of the first lessons for me, in

this time, was the realization that if I really want to change...

I'm going to have to let go of a lot of things.

I'm going to have to release the things that are no longer serving...

Who I am now, and who I want to become, and where I want to go.

I have to release the attitudes and the beliefs that are holding me back...

And keeping me stuck in that place of...

I'm not the caterpillar, and nor yet am I the butterfly.

And that means that I may also have to release some relationships,

and some associations.

Certainly some habits that are no longer supporting me to

get my wings and take flight.

But hey...

What kind of butterfly would I be anyway?...

If I couldn't stretch my wings and take flight?

And so on these road trips, I've also been thinking about...

What keeps my wings pinned to my side?

What stands in my way from really completing the metamorphosis and

traveling wherever I wish to go?

What are the habits, the limiting beliefs and the relationships that

prevent me from spreading those wings?

So stay tuned because I have more to reflect and I will share with you.

I also want you to know that we're in really good company...

If you like me like road trips, we've got some pretty cool

people who share our passion.

Kevin Costner in fact, loves roadtrips.

I've just finished reading an article about him, where he recounts

his childhood adventures and how he learned to love road trips...

So much so, that he has just launched a new service, an app, called HearHere...

And I'll put the link in the show notes because that's pretty cool.

He and some other pretty cool friends of his as your co-pilots and navigators

on certain road trips, sharing all of the details and the hidden

stories and the byways that you can explore to enrich your road trip.

I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to go on a road trip with Kevin Costner?

I've already had a super affinity with Morgan Freeman on my travels.

If you've read my book, Who Am I Now?: Feminine Wisdom

- Unmasked and Uncensored...

You know, I recount the experience of having Morgan Freeman

talking to me from my GPS.

Now, if you don't already know that story...

I'll put a link in the show notes below where you could download a

free copy of that chapter entitled...

I've never been this me before.

Find out what Morgan tells me.

All right, until next week...

Where we're going to continue on this theme of change.

I hope that you enjoy the ride, and remember that the

journey and the destination...

Are the times that we really can change and choose...

How we view that trip.