Feeling A Stuckness

“Someday everything will make perfect sense.  So, for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason.” 

            My goal for this pandemic was to get up every Monday and write up a blog post.  This week I couldn’t do it.  No matter what I did, I felt the word “stuck”.  I don’t like to even use that word because what I realize is that you are not really stuck but refusing to budge.  There is something that you are supposed to be doing and you refuse to see any way to do it.  This was me and to some extent, it still feels that way. I’m feeling on edge. I’m feeling like I can’t do anything right now due to current circumstances. I’m at Week #8, I think, and it’s getting real.  Even though our governor said things will start re-opening, I’m feeling like this will go on for a long time.

            It is not something going on but more that life has completely changed in a short, short time.  I go out and see people worrying about whether people are wearing masks or not.  I see that life at Shake Shack (our treat for today) has morphed into people sitting in their hot cars and the masked workers bringing bags to the cars.  It’s sad for me and that is where I have the opportunity to shift my thinking and my reality.  This is what life will look like for, probably the rest of the year.  If I don’t shift my thoughts, it’s going to be a long 2020.

            I remember waking up on New Year’s Day thinking that 2020 was going to be an amazing year for many reasons. Little did I know that it would be a different year from any that I have ever experienced in my life.  I was working full-time for the first time in a long time due to some life circumstances.  I got super sick in February (thinking now I had the “rona”), I was forced to quit my job due to the illness and then the wave hit.  I went from a high to a low.  We all did.  No one knew what was coming or how to prepare for it.  It’s how we come out the other side of this that will determine our future.

            Each day I get up and gauge how my day is going to go.  What key I was missing is that I have the power to make how my day goes.  I stick to a schedule of meditation, walking, etc.  Today my son and I deviated from our schedule and went out for lunch and to pick something up from a friend’s house.  We both got so thrown off, we came home and took a deep nap.  I woke up thinking, is everything going to make me tired and in need a nap?  I sure hope not.

            I believe the message I am getting today is to continue living in the day by day mindset for now.  Stick with my schedule, look at my next right steps, and then step into my best future.  I’m sticking to my exercise routine, doing my writing and looking for future opportunities.  If that’s “all” I am doing right now, that’s a lot better than binge watching Netflix and eating Thin Mints. Well, the Thin Mints, they were gone the first week of this pandemic.

Life is what we make it. We are the architects of our lives.  What will you do with yours?

Until My Next Adventure,

Trish Walker

 Check out my “Act As If” program at my website www.trishwalker.us.  Set yourself up for success on the other end of world events.  Who do you want to be when we step into our new normal?

Not Another Manic Monday

“ I Love Mondays: 1. A fresh start; 2. The chance to set a new tone for the rest of the week., 3. A great day to be alive!”

            It’s Monday on Week 4 of Quarantine Life.  How’s everyone holding up?  Today feels kind of heavy for me.  It’s like we had this auspicious holiday yesterday that usually uplifts and is a time for resurrection.  Today is Monday.  Nothing has changed for the most part. It’s a lot of just taking one day at a time and waiting and seeing. Does this mean we have to be glum?  No, we can turn this around.  Let’s start right here and now.

            Yes, we are in uncertain times.  Yes, we have no clue what the future holds but I, for one, am ready to make some changes in my life.  The frustrating thing is I’m ready now, but the world is closed down and I can’t leave the house. Where does this leave me?  With time to craft these changes so that they are the best decisions yet.  It also gives me time to work on my goals and dreams.  We are all on this carousel of uncertainty, but we can make the best of these times and think about what we want, instead of what we don’t want.

            Honor your feelings and emotions right now. We are all dealing with certain stages of grief, frustration and for me, the other day, anger.  Like hot, red anger.  I breathed my way through it, recognized what it was and pushed it out of my sphere.  It will come back.  I’m certain but I won’t try and stuff it down. I’ll reach in, look it right in the eye and see what in my life needs to be changed in order to move it through.  I have some great meditation tools that I am happy to share with you!

            We can make little shifts here and there that amount to a big result.  Small is the new big!  If we try and make big changes right now, we are most likely setting ourselves up for a failure and that won’t help in this day and age.  Focus on the solutions instead of the problem.  What action steps can you take today to start moving you towards that ultimate goal?  Some folks have been asking me lately what their ultimate goal is. I can’t answer that for you but can give you some tips and tools.  For example, what is something that keeps coming to mind whilst in house arrest?  Do you fixate on HGTV shows (okay I do)?  Maybe that’s where your career lies.  There are all aspects of real estate that you can go into.  There’s house flipping, buying, selling, renovations, mortgages, etc.  If you keep coming back to this channel again and again, guess what?  You most likely have a passion for all things real estate. Start researching what that would take as a career instead of watching so much of it on television.

            Listen, I get it. I’m here with you during this quarantine. I’m feeling the feelings, shifting the thoughts and processing the grief and anger like most of you are.  It’s great to process feelings but just don’t unpack your bags there.  Keep it moving.  Watch them as if they are movie and say thank you, thank you, next.  We can either be victims or victors in this thing called life. Which group do you want to be in?

Until My Next Adventure,

Trish Walker

Park City, UT

Check out my “Act As If” program at my website www.trishwalker.us.  Set yourself up for success on the other end of world events.  Who do you want to be when we step into our new normal?

Not So Fast and Not So Furious

I did it! I went to race car school. It’s been on my bucket list for years now and I finally made it happen.  I attended a class and training at Exotics Racing in Las Vegas. The staff was amazing and my experience was beyond awesome. I left the track that day saying that was one of the coolest things I have ever done in my whole life. It truly made me feel really alive.

After sitting in a class on technique and going around the track once to get some instructions from a seasoned professional, I was given the keys and allowed behind the wheel. For this adventure, I chose to go out in a Porsche Cayman.   Although it was referred to by some of the drivers at Exotics as the "go-cart", I was still thrilled to be able to get out and make some turns.

My instructor hailed from the U.K. and was a very patient man. He must have had nerves of steel. He instructed me all the way around the track five times.  I slowed way down going around the curves, but finally got up the gumption to turn on the speed towards the end of my session.  When I reviewed the video of my laps, I burst out laughing because I looked like I was slowing down to get a parking spot at the mall.  When I had originally heard that I was "only" going five laps, I thought to myself that that would not be enough.  It turned out I was very wrong.  It requires a lot of hard work and muscles to do even one lap.

As I left the vehicle, I was feeling like I hadn’t had the thrill of the speed. I realized that I had let fear hold me back and now I had regrets that I just didn't let it fly.  To satisfy my as of yet unmet need for speed, I decided it was time to take a few laps with the Professional Race Car driver. His name was Rudy and his credits included being one of the drivers in the first Fast and Furious movie. I thought I would be completely nervous going into this adventure, but the opposite was true. I had such a feeling of calm come over me that Rudy could see I wasn’t scared at all. In fact, I think he took this as a challenge and turned up the heat. During our last lap, we completely fish tailed and swung around. I still wasn’t freaked out. Sorry Rudy, you can’t scare this old gal!  I have made a vow to go back and do this again very soon.  This time I will drive the Lamborghini.

After completing this adventure, I truly left the track on such a high.  I also vowed that I would not continue to hold back because of fear.  I would put myself out there and feel the fear and do it anyway!

“If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough.” ― Mario Andretti

Until my next adventure,

P.A. Walker

Want-To-Be Writer Turns "Real"

I have always been a voracious reader.  I love to read books, magazines, you name it.  I am turning the tides and becoming a rabid want-to-be writer. Why do I keep labeling myself a want-to-be? I AM a writer. I have hit publish on several blog posts.  I have submitted several articles for review.  Now for one of my firsts, I am going to start not one, but two books. I have two distinct ideas for books and somehow they keep melding into each other. Should I combine them or separate them?  I am just not sure. Today’s adventure will be to surrender the ideas and see where the universe takes them. I have one of the books finished to the point of a raw manuscript.  I sent out word to two different people to help edit and got no response. Instead of stopping what I was doing and not going forward, I just surrendered. I will alternatively continue to seek out editors and also wait it out and see who comes to me. I have an idea of going to an author's event in Denver next month. I feel like this is what I am supposed to be doing and that this might answer this editing question. Again, surrender to the universe.  Why is it so hard to surrender to the universe?  I keep having this question come up when I try and do this.  Are you supposed to surrender completely or help the process along?  If you are to help the process along, what does that look like?

“I surrender this fear or desire. Thank you for taking care of it!”.

I ask you, the reader, to share with me any times in your life where you have just put your hands up and surrendered.  How did this work out for you?  Any thoughts on answering that universal question of how much should we be helping out?

"Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don't". - Steve Marabol, Life, Truth and Being Free

Until the Next Adventure,

P.A. Walker

As always, you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram and my Facebook Page Kiva Wellness. www.kivawell.com.