Are you stuck in the muddle of real change?

I sent out an email to my Designed for Wellness course* women.

In the weeks of working with them, I have been consistently blown away by the level of honesty, depth, transformation, and revelation that is happening.  I know the path this course takes you, and quite frankly, I could not have imagined that these women would have come so far in such a short time.

I also know the twisted path of change and transformation, and that there is a part of the journey that holds true for most everyone.

And it often seems to happen most intensely for those of us digging deepest and readying ourselves for the most profound change.

So, as I’ve been reflecting on the dynamic community that has taken off within the course and the change that is happening in these women’s lives…I knew it was important to send this message out to them.

I’ll share that message with you below.  I think it’s relevant for many times in our life as we walk a journey that elevates and improves us.  I’d love to hear if you relate.

It’s Lisa here…checking in for a moment to see how things are going for you.

When I was in college I used to paint a lot.  Still love that form of art, but don’t get the paintbrushes out as much anymore.

In any case, I lived with one of my best friends — who is a bona fide artist — and we used to paint together often.

There were many times when I’d be in the middle of a painting and things were going all wrong. I felt completely overcommited, had way different expectations of where the painting should be going (or would have been at that point) and it was starting to simply feel stale.

If I had it my way, I’d get my white gesso out and create a new white canvas out of it.

But my friend, Kristin, gave me some of the very best advice ever.

She told me,

“Lis — you are just in the muddle.  It’s the leg of the journey we all have to go through when we do anything creative or transformative.  It starts to take a life of its own. It looks worse than you could have imagined, and you are now absolutely sure that the end result will not match perfectly with your initial expectation.

“You are right where you should be.

“The only thing you need to do is keep going.  Be okay with it looking the way it does right now.  Keep committed to it for a little longer and it before you know it it is going to blast open to a totally new place that you will be amazed at.”

Can I tell you that she has always been right?  Every. Single. Time.

And can I also share that this is true not only for art on a canvas.  It’s true when we are the art we are recreating, transforming, and improving.

I’ve found this happen time and time again with women I’ve counseled.  Somewhere between 5 and 8 weeks along, there is just a slump, a reservation, a worry that things are just not working the way they’d hoped.  Sometimes it is an endurance thing.  Sometimes it is an inner resistance.

Even if the past weeks have been incredible, it can still come on out of nowhere.

And my message to you is to ask you to keep going. Keep committed. Quiet the voices that may be screaming for you to simply let this go by the wayside. Tell them you will be back and will talk to them after the 12 weeks are over. That you started something and will finish it.  That you are going to show yourself this time that you will follow through.

If this resonates with you now…or in a couple week, hop on the forums and start talking about it.  Give it some light, so the shadow voices don’t take hold too strongly.

The muddle isn’t something we need to be ashamed of or afraid to admit.

Quite frankly, I’ve come to see it as a bright light of hope — my own little beacon telling me I must be on the right track and that amazing things are ahead.

Sending this with a heart full of love for each of you!

Have you experienced this phenomenon, the muddle, in your life?  How have you responded when it happened?

* Designed for Wellness was the forerunner to my current offering: Replenish 365, my signature, fully supported, year long self-care program for moms.