Show Up and Jump in With Joy

Show Up to Go Up

Ep 27 Show Up and Jump In with Joy

I have deemed June "Jump In June." This month is all about taking risks but not just taking risks - finding a way to find joy in risk taking. The more risks you take the easier they will become so let's go big in June and go all in!

Happy June! I can’t believe it’s already June.  I used to have an acquaintance that would say its June. We’re now basically closer to Christmas than we are to last New Years Eve as in the year is half way over. He used it in a way to question what have you done so far this year but it was always said in a negative way and made me feel bad like I wasn’t doing enough and was somehow behind in my life. I thought about that today and I realized that is something that doesn’t bring me happiness. Focusing on how we’re almost halfway through the year might work for some people and that’s awesome but for me that makes me feel overwhelmed and like a failure and doesn’t put me in a state of joy which I’ve come to realize is what life is all about. If you are in a state of joy you are able to achieve more things. So for me focusing on feeling good now, today is more important to my overall success than focusing on how the year is half over and what I have achieved. Also in general we are freaking hard on ourselves and we don’t celebrate all the awesome things we have accomplished in the first half of the year. Don’t get me wrong it’s always good to reflect and see what’s working and what’s not working but don’t forget to take some time to celebrate your wins and put just as much emphasis and attention on your wins that you put on what you still want to achieve.

So basically I’ve learned things are not a one size fits all and that applies to everything - morning routine, diet, path to achievement, whatever it is. don’t forget that. What works for one person may not work for you. There are certain things that people do in their morning routines that don’t excite me and if I were to do them I would just be doing them to do them and to check off a box rather than because it fills me up in some way. How you feel is the greatest indicator of if you should or should not be doing something. So focus on feeling good now and things that make you feel good. That was just a random tangent but I think it was worth mentioning and it somewhat relates to what I want to talk about.

I like to theme every month because that’s just the kind of person I am. It’s the little things that bring me happiness. This month is Jump In June! As in take big leaps despite any fear that I have. But also I’m trying to jump into things with excitement rather than letting my fear create tension. I’m on the diving board looking out into the deep end. Looking out into all my hopes, dreams, and aspirations. The deep end is full of everything I’ve always wanted but I’ve never swam in this water before so I don’t know what to expect. As I stand on the diving board I’ve got four options. As I say these I want you to think about them as if you are on the diving board looking out toward your dream. In order to break these down a little more and apply them to life using a specific dream - this podcast. So my deep end is creating this podcast. What is the dream that you use in your deep end? Think of a specific thing that you want. So when you are on the edge of the diving board looking out you’ve got 4 options.

Number one you can turn around, get off the diving board, and go back to the shallow end where you have been before. You know it’s safe and you know you can touch the bottom. The shallow end isn’t very fun or exciting or fulfilling. It’s only 3 feet tall so you can’t really do much but it’s definitely safe and in my comfort zone. You can have an okay time in the shallow end - it’s probably where you just came from before you got on the diving board - but you’ll probably always wonder what it’s like to be in the deep end. I’ll see others swimming in the deep end and having so much fun and I’ll likely be jealous of them and think if only I could build up enough courage to jump I could swim with them. Or related to creating a podcast I could look out over the edge and realize that it’s too scary to put myself out there or I’m not ready and so I leave the dream of the podcast in the deep end and I return to my everyday life. I try to convince myself that I don’t really want to create a podcast or that there are too many people making podcasts so what’s the point. I try to suppress or ignore  my dream but the dream of my podcast and your dream will always be there and now that we’ve seen it and gotten so close and gone back to everyday life it just kind of feels like we’re going through the motions of life. I look to others who are creating their own podcasts and maybe I can’t express it but there is a feeling of envy within me. A feeling of jealousy. I’m not miserable in my everyday life but I’m not fulfilled either. But at least I made a choice.

The second option is you stand on the edge of the diving board and freeze. Fear has overcome you and you can’t even move back to the shallow end. You’ve given up all your power and control and you’re just letting life happen to you. You want to jump off the diving board but there are so many risks. Honestly this is probably the most painful option. It’s painful because you feel out of control. At least with the first option you made the choice to go back to the shallow end. This freezing option comes from overthinking and overanalyzing which will almost always never serve you. I have been an extreme overthinker and all it’s gotten me is mental exhaustion and distraction from what I want. Don’t get me wrong, problem solving is a great thing but there is a difference between solution driven problem solving and obsessive over analyzing. Have you ever heard of the term paralysis of analysis? Basically it’s the idea that you spend so much time thinking about all the what ifs that you don’t take any action at all. You freeze.

The third option of what you can do on the diving board is that you are fearful and nervous and you know it’s going to be hard and scary and so you spend a month or a significant amount of time feeling anxious but slowly preparing yourself to jump. It doesn’t feel good because you’re focusing on the scary things but you’re stubborn and hardworking and you’re going to do it even if you don’t enjoy it.  You will force yourself to do it. So you jump in and you do it but you're full of resistance so you can’t fully enjoy the jump, the deep end, or, in my example, the podcast process. I’ve spent a good amount of time in this option. Not necessarily with this podcast but just in general in life. I don’t know why but at some point in my life I decided that all the scary things I desire and dream about have to be scary and hard to achieve. I would take steps toward the things I said I wanted but none of it felt good because I was putting so much pressure on myself to be the best on my first try. Well that’s just not going to happen. With any new dream you have to start by sucking. You have to shift your mindset or perspective to enjoy the sucking because it means that you are closer toward achieving your goal and it is through the sucking that you get to learn and grow into a better version of yourself. I hated sucking because I hated looking bad but I’ve decided I’d rather suck and look back at something that excites me and feeds my soul than not try at all. By looking bad it means that you are trying and growing and stretching yourself and that’s an amazing thing. You don’t even know it but other people are watching you and when you are worried about looking back they are jealous of you for going for it. They are inspired by you!  I hope you have the courage to suck!

You will still suck in the fourth option there is no avoiding it but in the fourth option you lean into the journey of achieving your dream. You are excited to pursue your new dream even though you don’t know exactly how to swim or what’s waiting for you in the deep end. You are bold and you are confident and you take a leap into the deep end and you have the biggest smile on your face while you do it. Being excited doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy but it means you are committed to having fun and enjoying the journey. You are grateful for every minute and loving the challenges you face because they are making you better. Going back to what I said at the beginning - life is all about feeling good. Sometimes you have to remember your inner child and think about how he or she would handle this new thing. Kids don’t overthink they just jump in. They go for it and they figure it out along the way. I encourage you to adopt my theme for the month of June and just jump in. And not just jump in but jump in with joy. Jump in with Joy June! Ahh I just thought of that! So good! What does that mean to you? What are you going to do? How are you going to jump in? How can you find joy in the scary thing? Let go of tension let go of fear and focus on the person that you are becoming!

I used to have an acting coach that would always say leap and the net will appear. The level of success and happiness you feel is directly proportional to the amount of risks you take. I’m sure you’ve heard the quote everything you want is on the other side of fear. I used to hear that quote but I never took it in. And now that I’ve started taking more risks I can tell you from my experience it is so true. Taking risks is hard and it’s scary because it’s uncomfortable. It’s standing on the edge of diving board and choosing to jump in despite all the fears. But if you’ve ever jumped off a diving board you know that the first time is always the hardest. It’s always the scariest. The second time is a little easier and the more you do it the more it’ll become like second nature. You wont even think about jumping you’ll just do it.

When I was younger my parents would just drop me off at the local pool and I would stay there all day with my friends. I absolutely loved it. By the end of the summer I was jumping of the diving board multiple times a day. It was nothing! It was my new normal. Taking risks is the same. The first risk is going to be scary but if you’re feeling that urge or desire on your heart that is your intuition telling you that risk will lead you to your purpose. That fear you feel is just misplaced adrenaline. It’s excitement disguised as fear. Have the courage to trust it. Have the courage to go for it. To joyfully jump in and keep jumping in.

Happy jump in June you guys! I would love to connect on social media and hear all the ways you are joyfully jumping in this month. You can follow me on social media at @stephygthatsme or @showuptogoup. You got this.