Honor your every experience

So you may have noticed a lack of weekly themes and lives over the last month. I wanted to provide an explanation and an update as this week’s theme because it so perfectly fits into Productive Flow and the focus of this group.

Right after my photoshoot towards the end of August, my husband Joe came down with covid. A few days later I came down with it, then Zane, and then Emmie. Their symptoms were fairly mild and mine were as well but I had the worst of it in our house, mostly driven by my anxiety over everyone having it.

I want to talk about that anxiety because it was a moment by moment struggle for me where I had to look at my anxiety, allow it, and find a way to lovingly release it. It was extremely difficult for me. I pulled out everything I know to do but it was still difficult and further exacerbated that first week by the sudden loss of my Aunt (non-covid related) and the loss of one of my husband’s closest work colleagues who was hospitalized with covid and only a year older than me and Joe.

I was completely and totally overwhelmed with worry and stress and that’s not something that really happens to me anymore but this was a high-alert situation and my family was at risk. I won’t lie or try to make it sound like it was nothing or that it was easy for me to get through because of all my experience and knowledge of self-care and healing. It was hard and the biggest internal challenge I’ve faced in a very long time.

That being said, let me explain how I handled it from a work/business perspective. Because I only work the first 3 weeks of the month and August gave me 2 weeks off, the first two weeks of the illness, I was completely unencumbered by work and that was a beautiful thing. I returned to my 1:1 sessions in week 3 of the illness but did them over the phone instead of video so I could stay relaxed in my PJs on the sofa. The following week I felt much better and returned to video sessions but nothing else really until now and I just finished week 6 since first becoming ill.

Clare, my amazing assistant, kept up with posts in the groups and pages on Facebook and LinkedIn. Tarin, who is building up our new Pinterest page kept that moving forward, Sandra, my podcast booking agent, rescheduled my guest appearances and held off on booking any others until I was feeling better, Tiffany, my branding coach and site developer, kept my new site build going, and Matt, my podcast producer, continued with plans and work for launching our new podcast with minimal input from me. I cannot say enough about the team I have supporting me and how important it is to have people you can trust helping you. They kept things moving without having to involve me and just took care of everything. I am filled with gratitude for each and every one of them.

Because I personally create the themes each week and do the lives and write my own newsletter, those things didn’t happen because I knew I needed to shut down, process my anxiety, and allow my body to rest and recuperate and that’s exactly what I did without feeling any guilt or pressure to work through it anyway. I also pushed back the first cohort of our new group program, Productive Flow Essentials and rescheduled the entire launch process to begin towards the end of October with our first cohort to kick off in late Q4. I trusted that you all would understand and accept my need to heal and take a break and you absolutely did and I thank each and every one of you for that.

Just before we all got sick, Joe and I had started the purchase process for an RV- a travel trailer we could tow behind our truck. Once he was feeling better, he went to pick it up and just as I was starting to feel better, we booked our first trip to the mountains. It was so nice to get out of the house and just release the energy of sickness and stress and overwhelm and escape into nature. The picture I have here is from a hike we went on during that first trip.

The following weekend our son Henry moved up from Florida, our daughter Emmie moved into that new apartment with him to be his roommate, and our son Zachary came up to help them get settled. It was an awesome family weekend and we also got a living room refresh as Henry and Emmie took all our furniture with them to start their new place. That refresh was also perfect to lift the heaviness of stress and illness that had been hovering.

This past weekend and right now in fact, we’re on our second trip up to the mountains with our RV. We’ve been here since Friday and will be headed home late this afternoon. This was a more relaxed trip and we didn’t do any shopping or hiking. Just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful Fall weather. It’s been quiet and peaceful and very much needed.

Right now on the business side, things are going strong- the podcast is going to be launching soon, the new website will be finished soon, we are revamping some of of our software and tools, Emmie is going to be joining as the health coach for our new program, now that she’s finished her certification, Meena is going to be joining as our program hypnotherapist and rapid transformational therapist, and I’ve been working on two additional certifications as well. This new program we’re crafting is going to be nothing short of EPIC and I know that if this break hadn’t of happened, it wouldn’t have worked out as well as it all is.

Everything happens for a reason and I don’t regret anything I’ve taken away from these last 6 weeks. It has been extraordinary, even with the bumps and bends, the stress, anxiety, illness, and loss. Through it all, I’ve experienced love- love for myself and my experiences, love from my amazing family, love from my supportive team, the bond I have with each of you and the love I pour into my message, this new program we’re building, and the plans we have to continue growing and reaching more and more people just like you because I’ve been there and I know how hard it can be.

I know I said this would be a theme and I know it’s more of an update but to give you a true theme for the week, let’s call it this:

Honor your every experience and know there’s growth, love, and learning in everything.

Much love to all of you…

-Angela