I remember the early days of a major period of Disquiet in my life. I felt like a zombie in a job I had. I wanted to go in a new direction but I felt trapped. I had a young family and it felt risky.

I also felt pretty wrung out. I wasn’t getting to the gym, I never had time to be in the outdoors (which really recharges me) and I could not remember when I did something just to relax.

I was starting out on a business trip I didn’t want to be on. I was barely listening to the safety briefing, but when the flight attendant spoke of the oxygen mask, I was jolted awake. She was instructing us to be sure to put the oxygen mask on ourselves before placing one on our child.

I had heard that briefing a zillion times before but this time it was like a personal message. I needed to take care of myself so that I can take care of my kids. Sounds like a no-brainer now looking back. But at the time, I had lost total perspective about doing things for myself. Those things seemed selfish and expendable. Now I saw they were the very things that could give me the capacity to be there more for my family. And the path to being there more fully was to make sure I was getting my oxygen.

So started a major period of self development and working on creating a life that was a better fit.

In my work with my Disquiet clients, I design exercises to both identify what the ‘O2 mask’ is for them (it’s unique for each individual). My clients then learn how to make sure they put it on before doing anything else. Then, as we work through the program, they are building their capacity and stamina to be able to live their lives fully.

Are there things in life that are important to you but you never get around to doing them? Time, energy and responsibilities keep pushing them off your to-do list?

What would your life be like if these life-giving activities were actually considered the most important? What if they were protected on your calendar as important as any staff meeting or work deliverable?

And what might start happening with your Disquiet if you made sure you put your O2 mask first?

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Tags: Life, Resources, The Disquiet, working with the Disquiet, building capacity, coaching, life giving, never getting to your life, self development, zombie

This entry was posted on Monday, May 7th, 2007 at 7:26 am and is filed under Life, Resources, The Disquiet, working with the Disquiet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.