what did you expect would be different?

what did you expect would be different??????????

I find that so many of us have expectations (of course) of what we want life to be like. But then life doesn't turn out quite that way.?????????

And it hurts us in deeper ways than we realize - we resist our current situation because it doesn't align with our expectation.?????????

My client Sarah was upset that she wasn't able to retire from her company of 13 years. She was frustrated at the idea of looking for jobs and overwhelmed by all the possibilities. She only had 4 more years until retirement. What was she going to do? It wasn't supposed to be like this.?????????

She kept wanting to "just move on" and couldn't understand why she never felt motivated to job hunt.?????????

But then we realized it was because she wasn't letting herself feel upset about the future changing. She was fighting herself by not acknowledging her hurt.?????????

And so we let it be okay - that she was hurt. That this sucks. She gave herself permission to be upset.?????????

And then, after awhile I asked her what she wanted to do for herself. Sarah answered that she wanted to commit to one thing this week: apply to one job.?????????

We even talked about which job she wanted to apply to - we picked it out. All she needed to do was complete the application.?????????

That was Wednesday. And guess what, now it's Friday. And the company reached out to her and wants to do an interview.?????????

All because she let herself ask the question - 'what did I expect to be different?' - and didn't judge herself for the answer. She gave herself permission to feel hurt and then naturally picked just one tiny thing that would help her move forward.?????????

And it payed off big time.?????????

Never underestimate the power of acknowledging ourselves + doing one small thing. Together, they make a world of difference. Sarah, cheers to you!