Can I Really Do This?

Can I really do this?

Have you ever asked yourself that question?

Maybe you’ve trained for a marathon.  Maybe you’ve nursed a baby. Maybe you’ve taken on a huge project at work.  Maybe you’ve left a an unhealthy partnership or maybe you’ve stayed in one. Maybe you’ve cared for a dying loved one or maybe you lost them so abruptly you never got to.  Maybe you’ve tried to learn how to play an instrument. Maybe you’ve been broke. Maybe you’ve raised a toddler, an adolescent, a teenager. Maybe you’ve climbed out of the hole of mental illness.  Maybe you’ve started your own business.

In these situations, I’m sure at some point you asked yourself, “Can I really do this?,” the subtext to which is “How will I ever get through this?”  And if you’re reading this, chances are very good that a) you DID it (congratulations) or b) you decided that what you were trying to do wasn’t right for you at that time and you moved on (like a rolling stone).  Either way, you are still here, and that is wonderful.

I’m not going to play armchair therapist and analyze why we agonize so much over things.  I don’t have that kind of training, I don’t have that kind of time and frankly, I think it makes perfect sense to me when folks agonize over the hard stuff in life.  When you take on something big and challenging, it seems normal to have doubts.

Having the wisdom to know when to listen to those doubts and be judicious about your where you put your mental, physical and emotional energy is important, and as I’m learning, maybe that wisdom doesn’t come along until sometime after 35 years of age or approximately 1357 failures, whichever happens first.  

My current thing that’s causing me to ask this question (remember, the “can I do this?” question from the opening of this post?) is this wole massage business in general.  

• Can I be self employed?  
• Can I balance my work and my family life, without letting either suffer?
• Can I work enough to offer a significant financial contribution to my family without sacrificing my health?  
• Can I build a successful, service-based business without heavily relying on social media?

• Can I roll out a “Free Massage Fridays” initiative and have it really serve the community the way I hope it will?
• Can I maintain a blog that features so much personal vulnerability and still build a clientele and maintain readership?

When you really want something, but have never done it before, and don’t know of any models for doing it the way you want, how do you know if you can pull it off?  I’d like to think passion will drive the whole bus, but since I’m older than 35 and have failed at least 1358 times, I am beginning to suspect a few more components will need to be in place.   In addition to passion I’ll need:

• Persistence
• Courage
• A sense of humor
• Strong boundaries
• An open mind
• A big heart
• Support

Reading back through that list, it occurs to me that it’s a decent recipe for doing just about anything that’s worth doing.  I like this list. Maybe I’ll write it out and put it on my refrigerator.

But since I’m here on this planet (most of the time) to learn and grow, maybe you’d be willing to share with me your thoughts on how to pull off something hard?  How you got through a challenging time, or accomplished a difficult feat.  What did you do to get it done?  Or how did you know when to throw in the towel?  Message me with your words of wisdom, ok? I like hearing from people!

Oh, and since I brought it up, if you or anyone you know would like to book one of the Free Massage Friday sessions, here’s that link!  Thank you for your support!  

 

Cheers,
Abby