Have you been hiding out like I was?

Journey StartsWhen I moved to Colorado several years ago having lived in New England for over 20 years, my focus was on building my career so I could make a life for myself. Even though I’ve been an entrepreneur since 1998, moving to a new location where only a few people knew me was like starting over.

I took the advice I give my clients and decided to market one thing really well so I focused solely on one of my businesses- Workshop University. I booked 2-3 local speaking gigs a month that first year and it worked – my name got out there as the workshop & webinar guru. Ironically, the corporate training & coaching business that I let ride back East doubled so needless to say I was traveling back east quite a bit.  This went on for a few years until I decided one day I was done traveling back east. It was taking a toll and pulling me away from building a life in Colorado.

LuggageI didn’t think the universe would take me literally, but soon enough all my corporate work dried up. It was a wake-up call to take Workshop U to the next level, redesign the site, get crystal clear on my market and focus 100%. After about six months the corporate training work magically reappeared again too so all seemed well.

In the background, though something kept gnawing at me.   Because I put myself out there with such a narrow focus, I noticed parts of me felt dormant, completely unexpressed.  I’d been holding back from expressing all of who I am in my business and my life. Back East, I was so used to being around people who knew me from my corporate days and then followed me as I started & grew my training business and became a life coach running lots of workshops in life and business strategies.  Then I added Workshop U to the mix. They experienced all the different facets I brought to the world. In a way, they “grew up with me”.

Watercolor by Jean DiGiovanna

Watercolor by Jean DiGiovanna

Since moving here, though I’ve been so focused on building my business that I was pushing down my creative spirit, my love of play and my deep passion for life. I’ve been more concerned about how I’m seen and positioned that I forgot who I was at my essence. I’m an artist. I’m a designer. I’m a poet. I’m a dancer. I’m a life coach. I’m a spiritual healer. I’m a gymnast at heart and I love to play. But, I’ve been keeping those aspects to myself. I’ve been hiding out.

Life is too short to hide out.  It’s time to fully express all of who I am in my business and not hold back anymore.  Stay tuned for new workshops (and playshops) & expanded business ideas. The creative juices are flowing!

Where have you been hiding out in your business? Where have you been holding back from fully expressing yourself for fear of what people might think, for fear of going against the grain of how it’s “supposed to be done”?

Jean DiGiovanna Laughing at PlaygroundEach time we hide or make a judgment about what we think people will like or not like, we shut a piece of our self down. When we don’t honor all of who we are in our work, we cut off our full self expression, our life force. We’re not truly giving it our all.

The world craves your full self-expression in all its glory, uniqueness, weirdness and juiciness. It’s time to tap into all of who you are and not leave any parts of you behind.

Are you game? If so, I invite you to take on the exercise below.

Exercise: Stop hiding out

When things get stressful, keep looking up!

  1. Where have you been hiding out in your business?
  2. Where have you been holding back from fully expressing yourself, from being completely authentic?
  3. What’s that one thing you’ve been pushing down for fear of standing out? What’s one small step you can take toward unleashing that?
  4. What’s the one thing you most love to do that you’ve neglected? What’s one small action you can take toward honoring that?

Let me know what new and exciting things unfold and open up for you as a result of taking on this exercise.

Be your authentic self. Now is all there is!

Blessings,

Jean-heart

Keep laughing and having fun creating workshops, webinars and on-line courses

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