#43: Reignited.
To ignite and begin to burn again.
Long before I found the courage to tackle my own dreams with two young kids in tow, I cautiously shared my idea with a friend, and she immediately took my spark and ignited the flame that would eventually become my first business, a co-working space with onsite childcare. While things most certainly did not go as planned, enter the pandemic, the process of turning a spark into a flame has stuck with me ever since.
When I announced Summer School a few weeks ago, I was planning to center the program around the topic of Reinvention; a topic I know quite well as I have reinvented myself multiple times in the past decade. I am currently knee deep in yet another reinvention, and I felt called to outline the process that has worked for me and take you all along for the ride.
But as I started creating content and working through the 10 weeks of writing prompts and videos, another word jumped out at me and sparked something even deeper. Like all things I write and create, I tend to follow my own curiosity and listen to my own intuition.
Stumbling upon this coffee stained picture, taken in 2019, showed me exactly what was missing in my own life. One look at the pure, unabashed joy we all felt in this exact moment reignited a fire and a desire that was all but extinguished over the past few years.
I haven’t experienced the inside out sort of joy and excitement I once felt and I immediately knew this is what I wanted summer school to be about. Don’t get me wrong, I have done a lot of things, had plenty of good moments, and made some truly beautiful memories since then, but when I picked up this picture I realized I hadn’t been jump out of bed excited since before the pandemic hit.
The past few years derailed my life in ways I never could’ve imagined and while many of the changes I was forced to make actually right sized my life in wonderful ways, I miss the alignment and excitement I felt before the world quite literally broke.
As things changed around me, things changed inside of me and the business I created pre-pandemic no longer fit with my mid-pandemic self, and most certainly would not have fit with the version of me that I have now grown to be. When that version of my life no longer fit, when my priorities shifted, when who I was no longer matched who I wanted to be, I was forced to adjust.
This picture lit a fire inside me, reigniting my desire to seek and reach for joy every single day. And this is the word and the intention I have chosen to guide us through Summer School - reignited.
I have long considered myself a fuse-lighter, and while this particular personality trait will likely never make it onto a resume, I pride myself on my ability to find and ignite the spark so many of us are hiding. If you tell me your idea for life or work or otherwise, I will quickly respond with no less than 1,000 ways in which you could tackle it, nudging you in the right direction and cheering you on every step of the way.
And this is the energy I want to bring to summer school, a weekly opportunity to reconnect with yourself, to explore your own wants and needs, to decide on a direction, and to reignite your life from the inside out.
What is your version of my coffee stained family photo? What is the thing you want in life more than anything else? What is currently missing?
If you are in need of some summer accountability or looking to reignite your own life and lean into your own desires. I highly encourage you to join us right here on Substack - starting on Wednesday!
Week 1 - June 21: Ignited: Intention setting and what to expect.
Week 2 - June 28: Reflect: Reflect on what is working and what is not.
Week 3 - July 5: Envy: Explore envy and what it is trying to tell you.
Week 4 - July 12: Imagine: Imagine the best, most authentic version of you.
Week 5 - July 19: Guidance: Who can you turn to for guidance?
Week 6 - July 26: Needs: Identify your own wants and needs, define “enough.”
Week 7 - Aug 2: Identify: Identify how you want to feel and align your desires.
Week 8 - Aug 9: Trust: Trust the process and look for synchronicity.
Week 9 - Aug 16: Engage: Engage and test your ideas, using the emotional guidance system to guide you.
Week 10 - Aug 23: Decide: Decide on the direction you want to go.
In an effort to keep this offering accessible to all, I am happy to gift this program to anyone who needs it without the extra expense. If you would benefit from Summer School, but don’t have the means to make it happen right now, simply hit reply and I will add you to the list no questions asked.