Labor Day

Welcome back! Did you have a good summer? Labor Day weekend is, for me, the beginning of the year. I see it as the beginning of the upcoming planning season and goal setting from a season of relaxing and recharging and of course, back to school. ?

I have started and trashed no less than 20 Unplugged articles in the last 45 days. My desk is the overflowing trash can surrounded by crumpled up failed 2 pointers. Unfortunately, wadding up a digital page is not as satisfying as crumpling up honest-to-kill-a-tree-paper. ?

I have so many thoughts zipping through my mind and heart that they are jostling around and can’t seem to agree which one completes first. So they are stuck in the doorway between idea and article.?

The stories that are jostling to be heard include: family summer vacations that could inspire Chevy Chase, the mandatory requirement of our souls to be recharged, the fun of spending time and traveling with my kids who are are are no longer children, my notes for the back-to-school working parents, the pressure to not look like I am growing older, this new challenging season of caring for aging and infirm parents, my sadness as an expectant grandmother, sympathizing with the grief of my son and daughter-in-law as they lost their baby, the bittersweet release of adult children into the world in their own accountability, the joy of working with an organization to fuel gender diverse entrepreneurs and investors, the relief of 59 year old women referred to as youthful and capable, and the fiendish delight of my own new technology business concept.?

I have also loved telling more than 200 other peoples’ stories in Medium Magazine this year.?

As we careen into the upcoming school year and a new presidential election cycle I will settle on this for my Unplugged theme today:?

It is not the where, it’s the who with ?

It isn’t the what, it’s the why

The when should always be now

I have travelled all over the world and those experiences make memories that? teach me about myself: The learning of who we are out of our comfort zone, the excitement of a new vista or a new taste hitting the tastebuds. The exhilaration of driving a car around the tiny cliff-side roads of Amalfi is no different than the mountainside of Colorado. Being in a different place doesn’t change who I am, but sometimes it pushes me to be more aware of what I am seeing, feeling, tasting, or touching all in a new way.? I can tell you that we have had every bit as much fun at the Oklahoma lake as we have across the ocean. We are still together, we are still interacting and we are still enjoying each and every moment (that we aren’t trying to kill each other).?

Sometimes the “who” with is just me by myself (or with my dogs). Learning to enjoy who I am has allowed me to be “more” with the other people in my life when we are back together.?

Life happens. Life can be wonderful like a new member of the family through birth, friendship or marriage, or it can be full-cycle like death, loss, or choosing to not belong. If you haven’t seen the animated movie Inside Out, I highly recommend it.? Sometimes we classify feelings as “good” or “bad”.? Not so.? We need all the feelings to appreciate where we are and become all we can be. It is a labor to allow the less fun feelings like fear and sadness to work their way through and shape us.?

Appreciate the RIGHT NOW.? Celebrate WHO you are in this very moment.? I almost fell into a trap of working so hard and having a future mindset that I was always running, climbing and leaping over obstacles towards the next goal.

Just as I reached one goal I was always off to the next, and is some ways I was missing out

I am grateful to the gift of motherhood that anchored me to the joy of NOW.? I didn’t understand why I wasn’t able to get pregnant for more than a decade, but the hard fought determination of wanting a child allowed me to love other people’s biological children as my own and then when I did get pregnant I enjoyed each and every moment of their development, both inside me and once they were bringing in their own oxygen.?

Now all my kiddos are giving oxygen and life to the world around them. It is as beautiful to watch them thrive as it is painful to watch them struggle.? It is always rewarding and inspiring.? Parenting is a labor of love, but so is entrepreneurship, leadership and friendship.

So I wish you all a happy Labor Day in all that means to you. I will be spending time today with friends and family in a beautiful landscape that inspires me.? Hopefully I can be productive in the days, weeks, and months to come.? How did you enjoy today to the fullest and what are your plans for this upcoming season? I want to know, please share in the comments!?

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