Are you choosing remarkable?

Seth Godin says we have to choose between being remarkable or invisible.

I’ve never really been invisible – a friend once said I had a ‘distinctive’ voice, which I took as polite code to mean I was loud. So, one way or another, I’ve always been noticeable; people have always been able to hear me, which has been really useful in years of addressing large groups of people in big spaces with dodgy acoustics.

But I’ve never felt remarkable.

Why not, though? Because the universe as we know it has existed for 13.8 billion years, and during that time, I’ve existed for 53 years on planet Earth, totally unique in the history of human beings.

THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANOTHER ME. AND THERE’S NEVER GOING TO BE ANOTHER ONE.

So, hell yeah: I choose remarkable. Please and thank you.

What are the implications of actually making this choice, though?

If you really, actually, deep-down believe in your innate remarkableness, then you simply have to do something with that belief. It’s no good sitting there waiting for your remarkableness to be remarked upon by somebody equally remarkable.

You have to DO something.

Or, as someone said to me today, via YouTube, you make excuses, or you make changes. (Thank you, Vic Williams – I appreciate you.)

One way or another, I’ve been audible, but also invisible. The good girl. Doing pretty much what I was told. Putting up and shutting up. Having it all (but not an ‘all’ I wanted or valued – in fact, one that was actually the opposite of what I really wanted) and doing it all. Just getting on with it.

In classrooms, I felt heard. And I used my voice, my beliefs, my coaching abilities, to great effect on kids’ behalf.

We had lots of laughs in my classrooms. (They were always tidy, with plants growing in pots, rich display material, and clear windowsills – my innate understanding of biophilia has always been in evidence if you knew where to look!)

There were also lots of PowerPoint lesson plans we never quite got to the end of, because we’d been maybe a bit… tangential…? (Kids generally liked my tangents, though – and my own favourite lessons at school were with teachers who you knew you could persuade to have a wander down a winding pathway of their own favourite topics, in order to stave off the inevitable learning! ??)

(Sometimes, having wound them up, I had to wind kids back down from the ceiling and bribe/cajole/nag them into actually learning the thing we were supposed to be learning about – but they didn’t mind. They liked the randomness of not quite knowing what they were actually going to learn – and it seems they felt they ultimately learned something useful. That’s from both the anecdotal evidence, and the all-important historic ‘value-added’ figure, anyways…)

But now I’m not in a classroom anymore, who needs what I have to say?

Who needs to hear about what I know?

And what do I even know that could be useful to someone???

I know about plants – how to cook with them, grow them, transform spaces with them, make them multiply, fruit, and flourish. Which ones look good together. Their medicinal properties. Who lives on them as habitat. (Cinnabar Moth caterpillars, for example – they love ragwort. Now you know. ???? ♀?) Lots of languages! Bits of poems, off by heart. Shedloads of Shakespeare. ?? Points of punctuation and archaic grammar. Zeugma. Chiasmus. Anglo-Saxon. Old French. All sorts of beautiful words, and loads of random shizzle!

I also know about wellbeing. Mental health. Physical health. Brain health. Exercise. Diet. Meditation. Habits. Yoga. HIIT. Walking. Sourdough. Food. How to make your own ginger beer from scratch. (Yum.) Life ‘hacks.’ (Clue: there aren’t any. Not really.)

I use LOTS of bits of this knowledge in my own life, but strangely enough, I’m much better at helping others than I am at helping myself. Go figure.

MOST IMPORTANTLY…

I know about people.

Young and old. How to relate to them. Talk to them. Help them. Coach them. Encourage them. Hold them to account. Make them feel seen and heard. Understood. Demand things from them that they never thought they could do. And instil in them the self-belief to actually make those things happen. Stop listening to the inner voice that said they couldn’t. That it wasn’t worth it. That THEY weren’t worth it.

I know how to inspire people to transform.

So, which is it to be? Remarkable? Or invisible? Are you with me, and choosing remarkable?

Because if you are, then, like me, you have to DO SOMETHING with that choice. It’s an action that comes with responsibility. And, as travel writer, Freya Stark says, there can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.

You have greatness within you. As I do. Let’s celebrate the heck out of that and get on with DOING. Get HAPPY.

And why not do something remarkable? BE remarkable?

Because as a dear friend once said to me, you’re a long time dead. It’s time to get busy.

Give me a shout if you think I can help you – we’ve got stuff to do! It’s not a New Year Resolution – it’s far more interesting, urgent, and important. It’s a New YOU Resolution – someone you maybe never even imagined you can be is waiting to meet you.

No excuses. Just action. DM me here if you want to talk.

This is me, not waiting for the new year to start.

Because life’s happening NOW.

And it’s REMARKABLE, just like you.

Until next time.

??????Lois x

p.s. If you’re reading this now, in the middle of the holiday season, I really appreciate you – I know how manic things can get. Thank you; and may 2023 be a truly remarkable year for you, in all the ways possible.