MIDLIFE, MILES AND MIRACLES

This is a story about a midlife crisis that resulted in internal and external miracles…and the many miles that were traveled along the way.

Midlife crisis is usually joked about as the time when people buy the fancy sports and find a young, good-looking person to ride in it. But even if you don’t approach this time in that way, midlife is certainly a time to reexamine your life, make some big changes and perhaps go in a different direction.

This is the story about how one woman is doing that & is inspiring others to create their own “new journey”.

The Inner Journey

About three years ago, Soulo Entrepreneurs member, Tamela Rich came to me to help her deal with the loss of her business and to help her find a new career direction. Tamela did a lot of inner work to connect with what she really wanted to do. She had long loved to write but had, like many of us, not seen using her talent as a viable business. But as she connected with her passion, her energy returned and doors began to open for her.

She created a successful business writing for financial markets. And after having dealt with her own crisis, she decided to write about the trade offs everyone must make in life. With the financial meltdown still playing out, she’s researching the book by talking to financial traders across the country about their trade offs  – personally and professionally.

She also wanted to have some fun, live a dream, and make a difference…All great midlife goals

So next week, she will start riding across the country to conduct her research, not in a shiny sports car, but on a shiny new motorcycle. Along the way she’ll be raising money for The National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Outer Journey

Of course, there were a few obstacles to realizing her dream. Minor ones like she had never ridden a motorcycle.

She had little money of her own, didn’t know many people around the country, and a few other “minor”  challenges.

Oh yeah, and she didn’t have a motorcycle or the means to buy on

And some people who asked her,  “What are you thinking? “ and other discouraging remarks.

The Dream

But she had a dream and out of that dream has come some miracles –like the new BMW motorcycle and the dozens of “little” sponsorships from friends. strangers and businesses across the country. In the spirit of “If you build it, they will come,” her dream is coming tru

Biker Babe

And on June 26, she will start her “outward journey” with lots of support. plenty of contacts, a book contract and a new bike. In the process, she has inspired all of us to reconnect with our passions and find a way to make a difference in the world…especially our own.

Tamela gives a new meaning to “You Rock, Biker Babe!

You can follow Tamela’s travels on  Roadtrip.TamelaRich.com

Playing House-A Makeover Just Like on Oprah

Playing House

I felt like I was a little girl again in the playhouse my dad built for me. It was a favorite place to play. It was a place where everyday objects became special things and everything was new.In those days, leaves were plates and flowers were “pretend” food.
It was a place where I could have a  new place to play every  day.

But I am far from a little girl and I was in my own living room but the experience I was having still felt the same. And no, it was not too much wine but something much more interesting.

What was happening to me was the amazing experience of having a professional decorator, Ann Hodges owner of Sensible Space “re-do” my living room.
Ann stages homes for sale, has a booth at Black Lion Gifts and regularly makes the world a prettier place.

Ann is also the President of CPSE (Carolina Professional Sales & Entrepreneurs) where I also serve on the board. One day I complained that I had never liked my living room and she said she would be glad to re-decorate it using my own stuff. It was a very generous offer that I was delighted to accept.

When she came, Ann asked me some questions about what I liked and didn’t like about the room, what worked and didn’t work and then proceeded to move things around. She quickly moved into action and things began to change. Objects I had thought were old or ugly were “re-purposed”, pretty things showed much more and the whole room had much more livable, attractive space. Who knew it could look so good? My living room had a make-over just like on Oprah! And it was fun and energizing.

It took me a few days to get used to it but it feels much better. I really like sitting there now and wonder at the difference another perspective makes.

It took this experience for me to understand what one of my clients meant when she said,

” Working with you is like being in one of those programs on HGTV where they take your old pictures and re-frame them and suddenly, they look good. You look at the ‘old stuff” we have in our lives and put them into new frames and suddenly we see them in a whole new way. You take what we thought was junk and see the possibilities we don’t see. Suddenly everything looks better and works better too.

You told me that my story was powerful when I thought it was painful. But now I have turned that story into a book to help others.”

That’s a real “re-do”.

This client was Rev. Elizabeth Hyland who had gone thru a job loss and wanted to re-make her life and she really has. She organized the very successful “From Stressed to Success ” seminars for unemployed last year where I was a speaker. Now she has written a book “The Unemployment Rollercoaster:From Stress to Success” to support others in the same situation.

(She graciously gave me permission to use her quote & her story.)

And so, I have a new title of “interior decorator ” only I help you re-do  your life instead of your house. My new slogan is ,” If your life needs a “re-do” I’m the one to come to”.And like Ann, I love to help people “re- purpose” the things in their lives and create a better space for them to live. And it is not “pretend” because  the skills you learn really last.

We can all take what we have and make something special out it. We just need a new perspective and someone to play with.

So if you would like to re-new something in your life’s “living room”, call me and we can make everything old be new again.

Including us.

Down the Rabbit Hole and Back Again

LifeLearnings…Musings and Perspectives on our changing times

Remember what happened to Alice in Wonderland?

She fell down a rabbit hole into a strange land where the rules didn’t make sense and the all the signposts were backwards.

Alice kept asking for help to find her way but got confusing instructions. The queen of the land threatened to take off her head if Alice didn’t follow orders, but the orders were impossible to execute.

Over the last year or so,I have been feeling like Alice. The world seemed crazy. And I know many who feel the same. We have fallen down a hole and can’t get out. The signposts don’t make any sense. The landscape is different. What we are “supposed” to do is impossible and real directions seemed hard to find.

But as I have stumbled around myself and have helped others navigate through their changes, I have found out something very helpful and comforting.

That something is my essential self.

What’s the essential self? Our heart and our soul — those parts of us that are our character, are the same. They have not changed, no matter what else has. The essential self is as distinctive as the shape of our head or the way we walk. Whatever happened externally, the inside is much the same. On the inside is our values, our integrity and yes, our quirks and eccentric ways. Whatever made us valuable and unique is still there and usable, even if dented and scratched.

Whew..Realizing that was a great relief. I can count on those things within me that I have honed over my lifetime…they are not going to desert me. I can feel safe. I have only lost the outside stuff, not what is really valuable.

Realizing this, a quiet joy began to emerge because while everything else can be replaced or discarded, I, the essential me, will never go away.

And while I’m not grinning like the Cheshire Cat, I am smiling more and that’s a good sign. And yes, as the song says.”Still crazy after all these years” and I refuse to lose that.

And I hope you are the same.