It's Not Always Lonely at the Top
It’s been said that it’s lonely at the top. Often, when you find yourself plugging away at your dream, grinning through all the political b.s. , doing the do, climbing, you forget to notice that you aren’t taking care of yourself. So you just ignore this ache, that pain, the clothes that don’t fit, the headaches that cause you to forget important dates, the family that feels disappointed, the “frenemies” that crop up envious of your accomplishments. Then, when you finally stake your flag in the ground, you realize, wait a minute, where did that decade go, and why isn’t anyone else going through this same stuff? Is it really supposed to be this lonely and isolated? So you go to the doctor and they prescribe something to help you sleep at night but you don’t like to feel groggy, you need to be sharp and on your toes because you didn’t work all these years to get soft and foggy or lose focus.
So you keep going through the motions, allowing yourself to question things that you didn’t think to question before, watching your interactions with others almost from third person, like someone else is living your life. Now you know what you’re going to do, you start looking on Amazon for self-help books for high performers and burn out and “mid-life” and you settle on one. And it seems all well and fine and you mine a few nuggets of wisdom from it and that goes well for a few months and then… a few months later that feeling creeps in again…maybe it’s the way your partner looks at you, maybe it’s the sense of mortality when you see your kids growing up and moving further away from you, maybe you didn’t have the persistence in the habits provided in the book, so you order another one… but this one says the same things… Maybe there isn’t an answer after all and it really is supposed to be lonely at the top?
No. I’m here to tell you it isn’t. You aren’t crazy, you aren’t supposed to give it all up and shuck your suits for a yurt in the hills and you aren’t supposed to find the meaning of life by being a vegan or gym junkie. But you can find peace within yourself if you have the right level of guided support and someone who genuinely cares. Someone who has been where you are, and who knows how to get out of the rut of the pursuit of happiness and into the habit of embodying happiness. Believe me, I’ve been there, felt it, and it feels SO GOOD to know that there is another way to be! You don’t feel shameful hiring a personal trainer to help you work out, or a nutrition coach to help you formulate a meal plan, why should you feel bad about someone to help you navigate this tricky business of balancing life and business as a high performer? There isn’t really an APP for it (yet). I mean, we can “be mindful” count calories, and journal, but putting it all together while these weird questions like "isn’t there something more to life than this" running through our heads? That is difficult to do alone. Equally challenging to do with our spouse who depends on us to keep it together.
Patterns tend to take over if we leave it up to ourselves with little to no outside help. It takes someone who has been there, done that, and handled it well. As a high achieving, life loving, seeker of wisdom myself, I too have coaches to help keep me on track! Why the heck not? What have you got to lose? Loneliness? Fear? Blocks to the next level of success? Sign me up for that. It feels pretty freaking amazing to conquer the demons of uncertainty, and to be well doing it. Take a look at the photo in this article, someone took that photo of the climber didn't they? I’ll see you on top of the mountain, we can enjoy the view together.
Photo thanks to Ian Stauffer
For scheduling a free consultation to see if Kelly, Founder of Quantum Highways and Executive Business Coach is a good fit for you please visit: https://qhwys.as.me/