Good morning from New York City. I’m thinking this morning about what it means to hold a vision for ourselves. Let me give you a little context. I was coming out of the shower this morning reflecting on several different meetings I’ve had over the last couple of days, and my hunch was that there was a through line. The through line was this … well, let me give you more context. Two of the conversations were work related and the other one was about a challenging relationship and this fear of the relationship going sideways. Should I stay? Should I go? What’s going on here?

As I was reflecting on what that through line was, a few things came up for me. One piece was related to when we have a knowingness or feeling in our body. Our body is both a warning system and a validation system. In other words, when we have a good instinct on something. We usually feel it in our body and that’s when we have that sort of aha or that knowingness. But what often happens is doubt creeps in, or the negative Nelly bird on our shoulder starts screeching. In all three of these stories, their body told them what they really wanted. In both of the stories related to work, both of these people know what they don’t want so much so that they’re willing to walk away from opportunities. The negative voice in these cases can be, Oh my gosh, I’ve maybe left an opportunity on the table, I’m leaving money on the table, or the headhunter isn’t going to call me back because I always say no – that kind of talk, right? But they both know at a very deep level how they want to feel and be valued in the working environment, yet it’s only natural that holding that vision for themselves and of themselves is challenging.

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