By Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA
I’ve been fascinated with movies about people who wake up, usually in the hospital and don’t know their name, and don’t remember their roles (wife, husband, employee) or their habits (happy guy, quiet person, music lover). While on the one hand, that seems like a nightmare that you’d want to wake up from, my fantasy is that it would be the most freeing day of the year. As we talk about being your own coach this month, what if you could start tomorrow on an absolutely clean slate – what would you create for your life?
An important part of Big Dreams is the ability to dream them. So often yesterday’s definitions about who you are, what you can do, and how you act keep yanking you out of your dream. If tomorrow were actually the first day of your life, and you’re starting with the advantage of you can already walk, talk your language, and you know some social mores like shaking hands, smiling when spoken to, remaining clothed in public – you can go forward into this brand new day anyway you like.
We’re suggesting this month that you exercise your inner-coach-muscle. How about beginning with as blank a slate as you can and moving forward into your day with new Big Dreams. If you catch yourself making the month’s plans by rote, just because it’s how you’ve always done it, see if that inner-coach-muscle might flex in a different way.
I’m doing a big break-out from the mold this week. I’m taking a vacation by myself to a health spa, just because. I’m sure that if I woke up some day in a hospital and couldn’t remember my name, as soon as I remembered how to travel, and discovered that I had enough money in my accounts to cover a few days at a spa – I would jump on the chance. So I’m doing it – and I even remember my name and my husband and children’s names (although maybe for just a few days out there on the ranch I won’t even care what my name is).
