To Play Like A Champion, Let Go!

2022 was a year of opening new chapters for many of us. We transitioned into a post-pandemic "new normal". As this year launches, our challenges have not gone away, but hopefully the toughest elements have become clearer, and therefore, more manageable; some perhaps even masterable. What has changed (I hope) is our capacity to adjust, and to maximize our own potential in the face of changes.

According to Socrates, the secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

However, there's a caveat. We are not the beautiful blank slates we were as babies, whose unbridled innocence, wonder and curiosity are untainted by the realities of the world and its toxicities. We have baggage, literally and metaphorically which makes "building the new" more complex. While we don't want to waste energy "fighting the old", we do need to consciously let it go before we can truly play like champions in the present.

Last week, I had the heart-bursting joy of spending time with young innocents for an impromptu evening of "Ramen Night" at The Tasting Room in Rhinebeck. The children ran around amidst parents, grandparents and neighbors in the small, charming restaurant and it was beautiful chaos. I got to vicariously experience a world of wonder through the eyes of the babes, where caring adults were on hand to create a safe enclave in which to explore, taste, touch, laugh, dance, and wonder at the beauty of the moon, bathed in its soft glow. The contagion of their sense of wonder and delight was magical.

As life flows on, we stumble and fall more often than not without a compassionate holding environment like the littles ones had last week. We lose easy access to that sense of wonder as our callouses build. If we let them, circumstances and people can become purveyors of micro-assaults that we get comfortable with, and scars on our psyche multiply without our even realizing it. They can become harbingers of who and what we choose to surround ourselves by, against our best interest. Just through becoming more conscious, we can be our own most fervent advocates and nurturers, so that we can LET GO of what weighs us down, to become our best selves, for ourselves and for everyone whose paths we cross. Only when we let go of wounds and toxic people can we thrive to our fullest potential.

Like senescent cells in our bodies, if we don't rid ourselves of what (and who) doesn't benefit us, we won't be able to thrive or embrace our passion. Sure, we can tough it out and trudge forward carrying our "beasts of burden" on our shoulders. But alternatively, we can be proactive, become more aware of what actually ails or aids us, and heal ourselves by surrounding ourselves with positive, healthy people and habits. Only then can we liberate ourselves, in body, mind and spirit, to truly "build the new". We can play the game of life like champions without the nagging limitations of those proverbial sprains and tears weighing us down.

I hope that you've brought the chapters in your life and business that no longer serve you to a close. I've let go of a lot, and will continue to do so, positioning myself with the wind at my back to the extent that's possible. Keeping it real, I'm far from "there". I'm a work in progress. I'm working to protect my time to maximize my capabilities, and to make way for creative collaborations with my partner, my family and friends, my team, my clients, and the awesome prospective partners and friends whom I've not yet met.

Often simply making space for reflection allows us to reach new levels of potential - not only in theory, but in reality! This takes stepping back for a beat. It takes time and strategy, and being honest with yourself about what no longer serves you. I encourage you to try this perspective on. Purposefully give yourself some space to envision your goals, and the steps required to get there. You will discover what's in the way, and what you allow to become obstacles. That's a good thing. Once you're aware, you will find that ways to melt the obstacles away, or to confront them and deal with them, suddenly become clear. Once you're engaged in more compelling actions, you'll find that one productive, creative endeavor or collaboration leads to another.

What are your goals and dreams, and what's holding you back?