I’ve begun another journey. And I’m wondering: do the first steps ever get easier?
A few years ago, I birthed a new body of work: ReWIRE: Mind Training for Wealth + Well-Being, combining neuroscience with personal finance. Last week I finally finished the book proposal.
My agent is shopping it around. Even after writing 7 books, I have to say: beginnings are a bitch. Let me tell you why. Perhaps you can relate.
We rarely feel certain that we’re actually ready to begin. If anything, beginnings are a disturbing blend of excitement and fear, optimism and despair. (What if every publisher rejects me? What if I still need to learn more, be better prepared?)
And beginnings are scary. In order to start one thing, you have to let go of something else. For me, I’ve had to stop giving workshops and retreats in subjects I know and love to find the time for studying a brand new subject.
Beginnings are also frustrating. They are full of interruptions and false starts. I began working on my proposal last summer. But fear, resistance, and various distractions kept delaying my progress. I kept worrying I wasn’t doing it right, that I’d never finish.
Yet beginnings can’t be rushed. They must emerge. The key is to stay focused but surrender control, allowing one thing to lead to another. For example, I spent months trying to find just the right agent. I’d been spoiled by my old one—a razor sharp editor—who’d quit the biz. As I’m about to give up hope, I find out she’s back. And she whipped my proposal into shape, just as it needed.
Now I wait. Will my baby find a good home? Beginnings are mired in uncertainty. Then I read this on social media: “Be okay with not knowing for sure what might come next, but know that whatever it is, you’ll be ok.”
And I sigh with relief! It may never get easier. Yet I know, I’ll be fine, regardless of the results.
How do you handle the beginnings in your life? Join the conversation here.
It’s not too late to join me and an amazing group of women in the Spring 2019 session of my 5-month ReWIRE Mentorship Program. Click here to learn more!
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