In a conversation with a friend last week, a phrase came to me: “The world doesn’t have time to wait for you.”

Initially, this landed as completely absurd. Life doesn’t have time?! I relate to time as a human construct, not one of life’s universal laws.

So, I sat with it…

The world doesn’t have time to wait for you.
The world doesn’t have time to wait for you.
The world doesn’t have time to wait for you.

…And the message settled in.

We are in a time of heightened intensity. On Monday night, I sat in a Mama Circle with a group of pregnant women. As we went around and shared our current states – physically, practically, emotionally – there was so much on our hearts: upset over the election, the recent Oakland fire, Syria, the Dakota Access Pipeline, and our individual personal and professional bits and pieces. There were threads of sadness and heaviness, yes, but there was something much greater that I heard and felt within us: the call to play our parts in creating the world we want.

The same themes emerged in a conversation with a woman recently, about the Freedom Mastermind. She said, “I thought I wanted to lay low this year – to rest and take it easy. But the more I felt into that, the more I realized that what I’m really being called to this coming year is to RISE in my leadership and stand for what I care about, and find the way to do it that supports my wellbeing and doesn’t burn me out.”

The stirrings we feel to serve are here for a reason.

Those who feel called to serve are here to be the torchbearers and midwives for our collective healing and evolution. What’s required is that we answer the call with courage, humility, and devotion.  The world doesn’t have time to wait for us. {tweet}

But what happens for so many of us is that we hear the call, then fall into doubt…

• We get trapped in unworkable win-lose narratives, such as believing that if we rise in our leadership we must work ourselves into the ground, or that we can either have a thriving business or a thriving relationship, but not both.
• We get crushed under the weight of perfectionism – finding the perfect words, achieving the perfect weight, having the perfect messaging/website/photos. * We don’t ask for the support we need, then feel crushed by uncertainty, overwhelm and despair.
• We compare ourselves to others.  The ones who have been doing it longer, have better branding, are more articulate/slim/popular/you-name-it.  “Why would anyone want to work with me or hear what I have to say, when she says and does everything so much better?”
• We slide into existential questioning of our own goodness and worthiness.

And all of these experiences are so normal.  Because we’ve often been told (or shown) that asking for and receiving help is a sign of weakness, that being “perfect” is what earns us love (or money), that our worth is determined by our looks or intelligence.

And as a result of these doubts, we lose so much…

• We lose touch with our deepest desires or passion for what we feel called to.
• We have a million ideas and have a hard time sensing where to start.
• We get hooked into praise/approval and our own voice gets drowned out.

We recoil.
Slow ourselves down.
Let the fire die.
Stop.

We lose our momentum.
The world loses our wisdom.

Sometimes slowing down is necessary for rest and reflection.  Sometimes slowing down is a way we “protect” ourselves from growth.  It’s up to us to discern what’s true for us.

We are in a time where we’re being called to transcend the stories that keep us small and quiet, to work together to support the collective healing of our planet and ourselves.

What are the doubts that have been slowing you down? What are you committed to stepping into?

––> In the comments below, share the win-lose narratives, traps of perfectionism, comparison, or holding-back you’ve felt stuck in.  Then, share what you’re committed to stepping into.

I know in my bones that when women gather together to support one another, incredible things unfold. It’s time we stop trying to figure it all out by ourselves.

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AN INVITATION TO RISE TOGETHER IN 2017:

There are still a few spaces left in the 9-month Freedom Mastermind, and the 4-month Virtual Freedom Mastermind.  Several women have written in to ask about the difference between them, so I wanted to share them here…

The Freedom Mastermind: 2017 will be my 7th year running the 9-month Freedom Mastermind.  This experience is truly borne of my deep call to serve, and truly feels like my soul’s work.  The experience brings the community into incredible depth and devotion: to one another, to the people in our lives, to the world, to our work, and to ourselves.  The retreats are INCREDIBLE, and are an opportunity to connect with the community, to receive focused & in-depth coaching and strategic guidance from myself and the rest of the brilliant women there, and to learn from incredible mentors.  There’s one-on-one and group coaching with me throughout the 9 months.  It’s difficult to even express the growth and connection that comes out of these years: women have walked away with the clarity, success, and sisterhood they’d craved for years, and there are groups that still speak weekly 5 years later.  You can read all about it here: TheFreedomMastermind.com

The Virtual Freedom Mastermind: 2017 is my first time running the 4-month Virtual Freedom Mastermind.  I know how important it is that we gather at this time, coming together to support one another and our visions for humanity and our lives.  This experience was borne of that understanding, and a call to offer something that’s accessible to women who want the mastermind experience but cannot afford it financially, or could not do the travel.  So, the shorter Virtual Freedom Mastermind is a taste of what one would receive in the longer and more in-depth Freedom Mastermind.  There are no retreats (though there is a discount to our Artistry of Freedom retreat in Tulum!), and we focus on group coaching rather than one-on-one.  I am really excited to be offering this experience!  You can read all about it here: TheFreedomMastermind.com/virtual

Please feel free to email [email protected] to learn more.