MM551- Take a Small Action

Revisit what it means to feel “flat. Be inspired to take a small action in a direction that will get you loving your life again. Get ideas on actions you may find inspirational! This week’s “truth talk” – at the end of the show – is a personal one. Lynette knows that together, we can find passion in life again.

MM551- Take a Small Action

Hello, everybody, and welcome to this week’s episode of Motivate Me!

It’s Me! Time here on Motivate Me! and we are working on coming back from flat.

Before we start, let’s get into the right headspace. Let’s engage in the idea that this is time where YOU are the priority. Let’s take two slow, deep breaths to get us centered. Just follow me.

Today’s focus is: Take a Small Action

Somebody asked me recently what it means to feel flat; what it means to “come back from flat”? So before we talk today about taking a small action, I think we should clarify our goal.

If you’re new to Season 4 of Motivate Me!, I suggest listening to the first episode of the season, Episode 532, where I go into detail about my personal journey into and out of feeling flat.

But for right now, here’s the nut shell version: Feeling flat simply means you’ve lost your verve or your passion for engaging in life and for being creative. That you’re not moving forward in life, you’ve stopped striving for something you used to really desire, you’re not taking part in things that previously made your life more exciting or more meaningful. That your head and heart are just not in the game.

I fell flat after traveling the fifty states in ninety days interviewing people about their passion. Once I got all the interviews from the trip edited and posted on my podcast and on YouTube, and my responsibilities for the trip were over, I crashed. Not because I wanted to but because I was unclear of my next moves, so I began to wait it out, and during that, I allowed life to swallow me up. That’s kind of it.

But then the pandemic and quarantine came and I fell further, which is what I go into more detail about in Episode 532. But the outcome was that I drew a line in the sand and made the decision, because that’s all it is a simple decision, to reconnect with myself and my passion for life again. And I began to aggressively seek myself again. The secret to all of this is just to make an intentional effort.

The steps I took to do this are what we are sharing with you all through this season. It’s the tips, tricks, and techniques I used to get my head and heart back in the game. To get back to being excited about something again. To get back to creating. I knew what I needed to do, so I just got back at it, and these are things anyone can do, that’s why I’m sharing them. All we need to do is make the decision.

Life can change so quickly for the better and the worse. Have you ever had an experience where you met a new person and your whole perspective on life changed? Whether it was a romantic partner or a new friend, but you just felt so amazing about yourself and about what life now had to offer? Or have you ever started something new and it just opened up a whole world you didn’t know about?

Like for example, I was just on the International Volunteer Headquarters’ website where you can select a country and get involved in helping their community, whether it’s teaching or building or community projects. The United States has opportunities on there too. Imagine how exciting getting involved in something like that could be? The people you would add to your life, the new experiences you would have.

It’s like when we step out, the world opens new wings up to us. I experienced something similar to this when I joined a new exercise program and again when I started taking classes at the community college. Life shifts like this for us when we take small actions and it’s exciting and fun and illuminating, and it moves us in our next direction.

Did you have desires that you know you’ve detached from? Was there a college degree, a promotion, a business, an art project, a health and fitness goal, a book idea, or something else that you know you want to achieve but you’re just in a funk? That’s what feeling flat is. If this is you, I’m glad you’re here because our goal is to help you get your mojo back. Whatever that means for you!

Now, this isn’t where I tell you what your next move is, what the small action is that you need to take. I will give you some ideas on that, but this is where I tell you that moving forward begins when you take that one small action, the one that is personal to your unique talents and interests. You may know what that is right now, you may need to journal and meditate to figure that out.

All of the tips, tricks, and techniques I share with you are meant for you to make your own. They’re meant for you to travel through in your own time, space, and order. I’m sharing them in the order they worked for me, but it’s your job to do some introspective work, to take time for yourself, and to figure yourself out.

Find the time and make yourself a priority, our lives are only what we make them.

I’m going to share with you an example of a small action I took when I started out on this journey, and then I’m going to give you more ideas of simple small actions that may or may not pertain to you.

I’d been following the steps I’ve already shared with you this season. I was reading, taking notes, and journaling for starters. And in doing so, I noticed that two of the authors I was reading got book deals through publishing an essay on Medium.com. They each wrote it, submitted it, it got a ton of likes, and they were approached with a book deal.

Well, wow! It had already crossed my mind to tackle an essay about my fifty states in ninety days trip, and since the book is a much longer process, why not write an essay and submit it on Medium.com? I loved the idea and you know what? It was free to do, there was no danger in it because I could always decide not to publish the essay after writing it, and the essay-writing process would be great prewriting for the book. It felt like a win-win all the way around. All I had to do was decide to do it and then follow through.

I immediately got to writing. I wrote the essay and I sent it to two lifelines: 1) my daughter because she’s one smart cookie who always has great feedback and is really current, and 2) a friend who was in my master’s program and is a college English professor whom I adore. (Now notice, these are people I trust with my heart and mind, people I know will give me helpful and honest, but kind, feedback.)

They gave me pretty exceptional editing ideas and I applied them.

Did I submit this essay yet? No. You know why? Because writing it was the small action and submitting it is much bigger. I wasn’t ready then – but maybe I am now! You see this? Because of you, my Motivate Me! Friends, I’m feeling encouraged to submit my essay on the day this episode airs. At the end of each episode, I tell you that you motivate me, and I mean it… see!

I am just like you. I am taking small actions, I am fearful, I am brave, I desire to love the life I live. We can do this together.

So, I promised a list of small actions that may inspire you to get on this train with me and accomplish some cool stuff!

Here it is: The Small Actions Inspo List

– deeply listen to music (this inspires all art forms: writing, painting, photography, dance, etc.)

– create a Pinterest board (of whatever piques your interest: interior design, fashion, woodworking, all the different diets and cooking styles, make up, etc.)

– leave your gear out (want to walk more, get to the gym, rollerblade? Leave your gear where you can see it.)

– make a vision board (map your brain to achieve your desires – start believing)

– verbalize your ideas (but only to supportive people, find the language for your idea)

– put your ideas on paper (and let them grow there – brainstorm)

– research social media (is there a tribe of people you can connect with online?)

– research your community (is there a tribe of people you can connect with in real life?)

– play with the materials of your craft (feel them in your hands, smell them, envision what you will do with them)

We would love to hear your thoughts. Join us in our Private Facebook group: Motivate Me! Support System and checkout MotivateMePodcast.com for anything else.

I am going to leave you with some truth talk from me to you: If you know anything about Motivate Me!, you know that we’re all about: Envision. Explore. Execute. Well, if I were to take a guess, I would think that you’ve envisioned yourself doing whatever it is you want to do long before now. And if I were to take another guess, I’m thinking you have done some exploring about it. So now it’s time to execute one small action in the right direction. You don’t even have to pick up a pen if you don’t want to, it can be as small as you need.

Motivate Me! Friends, you are what I’m hoping to accomplish. Helping you to live a life that is more exciting and more meaningful, one you are excited about living, has been my goal from the start of this show over five years ago. I picked up this project, I created it from nothing, I searched deep into my person to find out what truly mattered to me, and it was you.

I tried to put you down. I tried to walk away. I couldn’t. I’m back at it again, trying to reach you from a different angle, because helping you is who I am. I don’t know how to explain this any differently, I just know I wish this same passion for you. And I know we can get there together.

Remember, you Motivate Me!


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