Showing Up Again

By Mohammed | December 6, 2008

Originally seen here on January 7, 2007

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Showing Up For Success

A large part of being a success at any endeavor is a simple thing. Just show up. Of course we all know that in order to make something happen we need to show up but there really is more to it than just that.

We need to make the effort to accomplish our endeavor. I show up on this blog. I post regularly almost every day. I took time off for the holidays, sometimes I?ll miss a day or two but I?m fairly consistent. In my past career from years back I was in sales. Part of showing up meant picking up the phone and prospecting for new clients. I used to pick up the phone and prospect regularly, almost everyday and physically I always showed up. I guess I?m one of those responsible people who do what they are supposed to do. But there is a huge difference in how I showed up then and how I show up now.

It is Sunday afternoon as I am writing this. Now Sunday afternoon is a nice relaxing wonderful time. I do what I want to do and what I want to do right now is write. But years ago, Sunday afternoons were a time of anguish for me. Around about noon on Sunday I would start getting anxious and apprehensive. A sense of dread would overtake me and I never enjoyed a Sunday afternoon because Monday was right around the corner. My sweet husband would try to comfort and console me but nothing really helped. I hated Sundays.

The problem was I knew I had to show up for Monday. I had to be there and I had to make the phone calls for new prospects and I had to take the phone calls from the current clients and I dreaded all of it. Physically I always showed up but mentally I just was not there. Ever. Emotionally I was spent before I even got there. So my physical body did what was required but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, I was truly not in harmony.
I tried to find other people who were successful and model them but I could never model their joy in their work because I just didn?t feel that. I tried. I really tried but I just could never bring myself to love that work.

But I was not a failure at that profession. In fact, I felt stuck. I felt like I made too much money to quit but not enough money to ever be happy. It would have been much easier had I been a complete failure and not made any money at all. Then I would have had a valid reason to quit sooner. Being unhappy didn?t seem like a good enough reason to quit I mean after all I was making money! I was very wrong about that.

I stayed with that work much longer than I ever should have. But I did learn some very important things about life and work. I learned about releasing the struggle and going with the flow and how life is so much sweeter when you are in the flow of life instead of paddling upstream. I learned about finding passion and joy and happiness and spending your time and your life doing something you love. I learned about not forcing things to work and not forcing myself to do things that were not in line with my true self.

So now I absolutely love what I am doing. I am showing up. I am not showing up with any sense of dread, confusion, or struggle but I am showing up for real life. I?m here and I am incredibly grateful. Life is Good.

So show up for Success. Show up physically but more importantly show up mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Show up in alignment with your true self. Your life is too precious not too.