What I Learned From Six-Year-Old-Christmas-JOY
My. Whole. World. 🙏✨
There’s something about this Christmas JOY that’s so contagious. Especially the six-year-old-kind!!
And it’s not really about what’s inside the boxes — it’s much bigger than that. ✨
//
For the past five years, Christmas has been filled with waves of brutal hard. Five years ago, Mia (seen here smiling from the back!!) was fresh off her open-heart surgery and fighting for her life after a traumatic and tumultuous post-op experience.
There’s no amount of preparing for the emotional tsunami that hits when your child is fighting for their life on Christmas Day. Or for the endless amount of love and prayers that nourished our souls, giving us the strength we needed to carry on.
There’s a reason they say time heals. Because, in many ways it does. Especially when we show up to do the hard work of healing from trauma.
Mia’s heart healed. And, in time, the pain of trauma has lessened.
Each year, those moments of inner peace grow into bigger spans - and each year, the hard gets a little more ‘normal.’
//
{{ This year, as part of my continued healing, I committed to putting down my phone - and staying off of social media for two days. Straight.
Seems simple? #rawtruth The first 24 hours were not. }}
//
When I took a leap of faith into entrepreneurship five years ago, the role social media played in my life shifted. It was both my lifeline and my first choice to numb.
And, it was a platform to grow my business.
For four years, I spent So. Much. Time. Online. It lifted me + gave me purpose (helping others) + helped me get out of bed in the morning. And. It came with a cost.
Constantly feeling the need to capture ALL the parts of my life to share.
Last year, I set out on a new entrepreneurial path, birthing into life my own company + high-performance business to help others cultivate greatness by honoring their WHOLE-selves.
Which meant, my role with social had to shift.
To walk the walk. To honor my WHOLE-self. And my clients.
The women I’ve worked with over the past (almost) two years — leaders + mothers + athletes + entrepreneurs + coaches — are AMAZING humans. Who needed (as we all do) someone in their life to empower them + guide them + challenge them + connect them to tools.
Most of all, they wanted someone to help them open up space in their lives so they could SEE - and FEEL - and LIVE the greatness that’s been in there all along.
To connect with JOY. The six-year-old-Christmas-JOY kind.
//
Here’s the thing ::
It’s available to all of us.
That doesn’t mean we won’t have to face hard - and walk through struggle. We will.
It means the question we ask ourselves isn’t:
‘What do I have to go DO / EARN / GET in order to feel joy?’
Rather, we ask ourselves:
‘What’s getting in my way?’
And for me, if I’m being completely honest, often my answer is social media.
It’s hard to feel joy when we’re constantly attached to our devices. Constantly comparing our lives to the lives + businesses of others. It’s an emotional roller-coaster ride at best. One that’s constantly reeling us back in with hits of dopamine for every ding, dot, heart, like and comment.
//
What I realized in those second 24 hours of not being online and “connected” — my hands were free. My head was up. My eyes were open.
And my heart was full.✨
Comparison really is the thief of joy.
What I realized in the process is just how much I’ve been blocking the very things I’m longing for in this life.
The LOVE. The JOY. The FREEDOM.
//
Shifting the way we use social media — for our lives and businesses is CRITICAL for our mental health, happiness and ability to experience the very things we seek.
And it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing thing.
What I’ve learned on this healing journey of mine - is that things we “can’t live without” hold power over us.
So, I checked myself.
Could I go two days without social? Of course I ‘could.’ My bigger question was — How hard would it be? When was I reaching for it?
And WHY?
I didn’t just survive. I feel REFRESHED. (And eXhAuStEd from momming Christmas with four girls!!! 🙃)
//
I’m curious — what does that space between look like for you? Of using social with intention vs. allowing it to use you?
//
I’d love to dive deeper with you in 2019.✨
First!! We map out that vision.
What are you longing for? What does your dream day look like? How do you get there?
Then, we DIG IN. And, just a heads up for all my fellow Recovering Perfectionists — sometimes that digging in is learning how to let go.
I’ve got you.
//
Because I’ll be in + out this week on social + email, I want to make sure you get the invite to my {free} vision mapping training on Sunday, 12/30 from 8:30 PM EST - 9:30 PM EST.
To secure a seat, head over to www.samanthalivingstone.com/vision-mapping-training
👊✨
You’ll also get a free, SeVeN page workbook!! Because, #forevereducator !!
Would LOVE for you to join us!!
To secure a seat, head over to www.samanthalivingstone.com/vision-mapping-training
//
Samantha Arsenault Livingstone is an Olympic Gold Medalist, high-performance professional, transformational speaker and mother of four girls. She is the founder of Livingstone High Performance, LLC. and the Rise Free Academy.
Samantha helps female athletes, coaches and women who lead, to cultivate the habits, mindset and skill set needed to quiet the noise and unapologetically step into their light so they can achieve AND feel fulfilled along the way.
Samantha also helps organizations, teams, and groups identify ways to support, empower, educate and equip their coaches, parents and athletes with the tools, skills and shifts needed to cultivate high-performance (achievement AND fulfillment).
A mama of heart warrior and mama of twins, Samantha and her husband, Rob, live in the Berkshires with their four girls. To learn more about her offerings, go over to www.samanthalivingstone.com.