Tending Your Enthusiasm

Mid-life stock taking and finding a key source of power.

As a nearly (please the gods one more month until I cross that elusive year without marker let me be finished) post-menopausal woman I feel like this period has been one of serious stock taking.

Coming to terms with the limits of the place the world-as-it-is has for me as I age. Aging by the way should be the most delightful thing we do! I try not to listen to those who would encourage me to grieve for my younger body, but instead I grieve for those who no longer have the privilege of accompanying me through the adventure of this one.

Coming to terms with what it cost me along the way to fight for the space I took up, for my voice to be heard, to stand back up - again - after encountering more made up barriers and reasons why the world would rather I didn’t.

Coming to terms with where we are in relationship to a planet that nurtures us and a rejection of the currently powerful of our place inside nature.

Coming to terms with the systems that led to our current reality and the amount of work it is going to take to dismantle and redirect that shit.

It’s a lot. I’ve been so lucky to have had my hermit/feral years on the coast of Scotland to process my personal reckoning. I’ve been lucky to return full circle to the land that gave me a voice in the first place and the care of my family and friends from this place.

This week though I realized something very important in my great accounting. That there was one precious thing I almost lost along the way and it wouldn’t have been an accident.

My enthusiasm.

My enthusiasm magicked an extraordinary life for me! It created a career in global horse racing where I was drinking champagne in the box next to the Queen’s because I cared enough to volunteer to plant flowers at the tiny, unremarkable place I started.

One of my Royal Ascot outfits. I also had enthusiasm for all the hats!

My enthusiasm let me help pass legislation and raise money for charity and lift people around me to the platform beside me so they could see what I could see for them.

My enthusiasm for a full and beautiful life let me quit a really great job and move to another country so I could be my dream I had for myself.

And my enthusiasm was almost ground away by fighting so hard for so many things.

But I remembered just in time what I am enthusiastic about and started pointing whatever energy I had in that direction. And like things do when you feed the right part, it has built up again over time. It started with nature and growing things, then writing and making art again, and finally back to my hard-earned business and leadership skills. I feel like I am finally reassembled as me. And I’m fiercely protective of it now.

That’s what I am here for to reside in my enthusiasm so I have the energy to apply it.

I am enthusiastic about that thing that lights you up.

I am enthusiastic about being a resource.

I am enthusiastic for taking all the business development skills I learned and pointing them towards the exciting work you want to do in the world.

I am enthusiastic about you getting to do and be that special thing in the world that keeps calling you. It’s annoying. It won’t shut up. It’s time.

I’m enthusiastic for you not struggling.

What could happen if you tended your enthusiasm? I know it’s hard and I’m here to tell you you don’t have to do it alone. Whether you pay someone like me to help you, or you find a friend or a delightful group of strangers on the internet (because that still happens and it makes us stronger even while the tech bros are trying to harvest our enthusiasm there too).

Find ways to tend your enthusiasm. It’s your super power.

Susie

PS. If you want my enthusiasm pointed at you check out Resiliency Club. I’ve recently added some options where I can actually build and set up your systems and tech for you because I don’t want a single hurdle left in the way of you bringing your work to the world. Happy to chat about any specific needs just hit reply or send me a message.