| There’s a Thought leader/Author/Influencer type person who constantly pops up in my feeds. A link for his morning and evening routines accosted me the other day. Just for s’s and g’s I decided to download it. This is the list: 1. Wake up. Dude I can’t even insult your intelligencies and write the rest of the lists. Because I care, I also don’t want to leave you hanging for the nighttime protocol, which is… “Go to bed.” NO I AM NOT KIDDING YES YOU ARE WELCOME AND NOW YOU CAN GO ABOUT LIVING YOUR BEST LIVES BECAUSE YOU NOW KNOW YOU NEED TO WAKE UP AND GO TO BED. What. Are. We. Doing. Here. The other day I was uploading some videos from my phone to my computer and there was some sort of data storage issue which is weird because I swear I pay Apple and Google and every other tech company $9.99 every hour it seems for some sort of mysterious charge which I thought was for data but I digress.. So my thoughtful phone suggested I delete Instagram. 😬 You know what I did? Deleted Instagram. You know how I feel about it? AWESOME. 🥳 Do you ever wonder how we spend a large portion of our days (assuming you’re on the socials) watching people tell us what to do from their cars while recording videos? Or telling us how to be better leaders while they put on their makeup? Or do you ever catch yourself watching a video of someone recording the top view of their feet walking? Could be feet on a sidewalk, could be feet walking up on stage, could be feet walking through an airport, sharing some sort of pithy thought leadership like, I don’t know… “WAKE UP” and then you throw your phone across the room because you realize you’re WATCHING PEOPLE’S FEET AND OMG THERE HAS GOT TO BE A BETTER USE OF YOUR TIME. Just me? What. Are. We. Doing. Here. Why do we think this is a good way to absorb information? Or spend our time? Maybe we don’t think that…but we do it anyway. Now…not to be hypocritical because I’m about to suggest something that you should do to live your best life. Like for reals. And I know I just quasi-mocked some bro-AG1-drinking-protocol-having-lowkey-influencer for telling us to “wake up” so who am I to tell you what to do? Well… Here is my pro tip. Hot take. Protocol. Whatever the dopey term I’m supposed to use is… LOOK UP. LOOK UP. You can do it right now! Look on up! What do you see? Last week I was in Chicago for work and I had a few workshops to prep for and a bunch of other stuff going on per usual and I could feel that constant racing of the todo list swarming through my head and the pile on and I now know that when that swirling chaos starts to take over less is more. It was partially Insta and partially a slow burning rage that’s building in me that we “have” to be on our phones all the time and I don’t want to be on my phone all the time and once you decide that you look around and you see how everyone is on their phones at all times. To which I say, LOOK UP. Last Thursday in Chicago was what Chicago was built for. Beautiful bright blue sky, 77 degrees, sunny, flat-hair-clear, vibing. I felt the swirl start to pick up so I said to myself, “Erin go stop the swirl” and I walked around for hours and then I sat on a bench. In a park. In the middle of downtown. And looked up. FOR ALMOST TWO HOURS. No phone.* No journal. No nothing. I stared at the sky. I stared at the people on their phones. I stared at the river. I stared at the trees. The sky. I thought of…nothing. In the best possible way. You know who else I noticed looking up? Kids. Because they had no devices. The Chicago skyline is a beauty. They were looking, gazing, taking in the buildings and the blue and the breeze and it was so… It was so nothing in the best possible way. Sitting on that bench. Not optimizing. Not doing. Not “Waking Up.” Not even thinking, really. Sitting. Looking up. Watching the world go by. Taking it in. That 2+ hours might have been the highlight of my month. Because the gift I gave myself of putting it (all) down instead of picking up more stuff: thoughts, my phone, more todos…gave me space. It gave me some peace from that internal spin. It slowed me down. It chilled me out. It stirred a sense of ease..and calm…and peace. I just did it. Not because someone told me to. But because it was like sitting on that bench was what I knew I needed when I took a minute and asked, “What do I need right now?” A tree I stared at for hours. To sit on a bench. And stare at the sky. And watch the world go by. We’re rolling into a holiday weekend here in the grand ol’ USA. (‘Murica!!) Per usual, there are plans and expectations and influencers and things to do–be it fun things like eating hot dogs and desserts featuring Cool Whip–but still all the things. My invitation to you, no matter where you are, is to do that check in. Ask, “What do I need right now?” If you don’t know…my answer: look up. Even that quick change of perspective can be that moment you need to reconnect. To re-tap in. To remember how beautiful it is to not have to do anything or be anything or think about anything. But just be. You. And that being lets you tap into that best experience of you. Because you just might find ease and calm and peace. Then you can show up, full on, YOU. That’s what the world really needs: less “influencing.” More experiencing. Experiencing the experience of YOU. *OK so I HAD my phone because I took a picture but I swear I was not ON my phone. 😉 When you’re ready, here are ways we can work together: 🦋 The Extravaganza, the 3-day Presenting with Impact Intensive where people learn how to consistently, authentically, and confidently show up as their full on selves. 🦋 Conference coming up? Let’s explore ways I can help elevate the human experience at your event. Hit reply and put PREGAME in the subject, and I’ll send you info about a pre-conference connection workshop that has attendees saying, “I’ve never been to a conference where I met and connected with people before the event began!” 🦋 Framing Feedback Workshops. “Can I give you some feedback?” are 6 of the most charged words in a business setting. They don’t have to be! Hit reply with “FEEDBACK” and we can talk about how to bring this practical, sticky framework to your team. |