And so she bought a lipstick…..
This was one of my most joyful moments coaching.
I was working with a woman who was doing something brave. It was something she had dreamed of for many many years. Something she had longed for but had squashed down in her whilst she built her career and raised her kids and forged her way.
This woman had always wanted to run her own agency and to work with writers for the love of, and belief in, the work they were creating. Rather than working for a big company where the creative is part of the machine, respected for their earning capacity, not necessarily their talent.
This woman was becoming unhappy.
Unfulfilled.
Frightened that this was it. That all her years as a working woman had led to this feeling of not really ever having done what she wanted. What she knew she could do.
Hang on…. where does the lipstick come in to all this? I hear you ask…
Well…
I worked with this wonderful woman for twelve weeks, a session a week, and we were meticulous. Every angle was covered. It was complicated and things needed to be put in place carefully.
She was also frightened and emotional so we worked on confidence and self esteem and how to appear at ease when inside you are a churning mess.
This woman was driven and a worked so hard, she ticked task after task off her list.
She was getting there but she was getting burnt out. Working so hard to arrive where she wanted to be she had lost sight of the purpose of all the work she was doing. To feel joined up, aligned ethically, excited by a new creative vision.
So the next session we explored what brought her joy.
We stopped the planning and just breathed for a while and reflected on things that she loved that perhaps had nothing to do with her new business.
That week she gave herself permission to recharge.
She went out for a meal with a friend she hadn’t seen for an age.
She went to the singing group that she was a member of but had neglected.
She went for a huge rambling walk with a mate who had a dog.
She put the radio up loud and had a dance around her kitchen.
And she bought a lipstick.
A bright red lipstick
In the process of being who she wanted to be, and doing what she wanted to do, she had got tangled in the detail, exhausted by the steps, strategies and demands, however positive the direction of travel.
The simple joy of a bright red lipstick
Bought for no other reason than it made her feel great to wear it
Reminded this woman that she could be serious, ambitious and driven, but that she could also have fun along the way. Feel lighter.
She didn’t get burn out.
And she absolutely got where she wanted to be.
It isn’t just about the things you have to do.
Sometimes it’s about the things you want to do.
That take you further.