Wake-up calls come in all sizes, from the indigestion after a meal in which your body is trying to tell you that a dietary change is in order, to a near miss car accident or a fall in which the message seems to be to slow down and pay attention.
Then there are the larger variety of wake-up calls, such as the diagnosis of a serious illness, getting laid off from your job of 26 years, the loss of a loved one, or waking up one day and realizing that you are very unhappy in your marriage or career and know, deep in your core, that something has got to change.
As I write about this, I can’t help but reflect upon the numerous wake-up calls I have had which have influenced both the person I have evolved into and the choices I have made in my life. Like the time I quit my job with no plan for what I would do instead, except that I knew I couldn’t continue working in the same way I had been. Or the time I got seriously ill and knew I needed to make some deliberate health and lifestyle changes. Then there was that period after my mother-in-law died and I had this deep sense that life was short and I wasn’t spending my time in the way that mattered most to me
Sometimes we get our wake-up calls and ignore them, push the snooze button and go back to sleep. Then we find that we get woken up again, perhaps 5 or 10 years later, with the same message. Only now we have missed out on 5 or 10 years of living a quality life.
Answering a wake-up call is not easy. Often it involves looking honestly at past circumstances and decisions, perhaps even taking an inner inventory, examining erroneous beliefs about ourselves or about what’s possible in life. It’s not easy to face these things, but doing so can open the possibility of discovering that some of our deepest beliefs are untrue. In waking up, we may come to realize that we do matter and deserve to be happy, healthy, and fulfilled.
So what is the wake-up call in your life? Isn’t it time to answer?
I’m excited to announce a new ongoing program for those individuals wanting to take an inventory of their lives, contemplate some new goals or aspirations, and make changes so that their lives are more aligned with what is most important. I hope you will consider joining me in this program or one of the other offerings I have this fall.
Contact Fran by phone or through this website.