Yeah, but…

We tend to look to the really difficult times in our lives to better understand what we are capable of. 

I often think back to those excruciating months surrounding my equal pay lawsuit. It was one of the most profoundly difficult — and profoundly valuable — times in my life. I learned that I was capable of so much more than I ever imagined, and I carry that knowledge deep within me today. 

I am who I am today because that experience showed me who I am. 

But what about a different kind of experience that also teaches us what we’re capable of?

What about that magical time — in a cabin in the woods, or traveling in a foreign country, or exhaling on a beach somewhere — a time where we experience new levels of inner peace, gratitude, a sense of presence and possibility?

Most of us tend to write this off as “just” a vacation experience. (Those of us privileged enough to take vacations.)

We say, “Yeah, but … that’s not really me.”

I wonder:  What if we challenged that “yeah, but”?  What if that experience is just as much evidence of what we’re capable of as something like that lawsuit?

I had a conversation with a client recently where we explored just that. She had experienced a profound shift inside herself during a recent trip, and she wanted to carry that awareness into her daily work as a leader.

What if her “ceiling” (her “vacation self”) could become her new “floor”? What if she could commit to connecting with her own capacity in a new way? What if she could see her own experience — that real evidence of who she can be — and leverage it to fuel a higher way of thinking going forward?

Just like I don’t need to go through another lawsuit to connect with my courage, she doesn't need another vacation to connect with her capacity for gratitude, for slowing down, for being present to what is good around her. It’s already there inside of her, if she’s willing and committed to returning to it.

Deepening that commitment will be the focus of our work going forward and I can't wait to see what she creates.

INVITATION TO REFLECT: Think back to a time when you were capable of more than you realized — maybe a tough time, maybe a joyful time. Do you see that you have that same capacity inside of you now? How might you tap into that capacity today, in your day to day life?