Hello Beautiful Human, How are you feeling?

I ask because how you emotionally feel impacts your physical wellbeing, mental state, and overall effectiveness as a leader. And let’s be honest, leadership is emotional.

Tending to your emotional state IS a critical piece of leadership development.

This week I shared how I was feeling on LinkedIN. It’s vulnerable and also an invitation. And I want to share it with you too.

​Read it online to like, share, & comment. Otherwise read on….

How do you move from gut wrenching outrage to empowered leadership?

My whole body responds as I watch a mother breakdown outside a courthouse as she is taken by ICE as this country turns its back on “Justice for All”. My stomach tightens, my mouth sours, my brain feels foggy.
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Hours later my husband asks, “What’s wrong?”, feeling my mood without me saying a word.

I shake my head wishing the painful images out of my mind. Wishing this was fake news or some sick clickbait, but it’s not.
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The ugly history that had been whitewashed and erased repeats. Repatriation, Operation Wetback, today is nothing new. But this time the perpetrators cover their faces because they know what they are doing is wrong as they tear hard working people away from their families.
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Have you seen the footage? Have you turned your eyes in disbelief?

Have you been pulled into a similar emotional dysregulation? ​
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We cannot possibly emotionally tend to all the onslaught of injustices being witnessed right now.
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​And yet it is our ability to feel that makes us uniquely human. ​
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Feeling the pit in your stomach, the tears in your eyes, or tightness in your heart means you are alive. It means you are connected to the human experience.
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Don’t suppress it or ignore it. It will only lead to depression, anxiety, negative health outcomes, and cognitive fatigue.
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Feel it. Acknowledge it. And remember that those painful emotions means you have a desire for something to be different, better, and more whole.
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Without desire there is no change.
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​May the pain crack us open to bring forth vision, purpose, and action. ​
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May we be tender with ourselves, committed to healing our own trauma and courageously step into leadership with all our humanness.
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Things will break our hearts that are totally out of our control. But that is not the end of the story. ​
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Take that deep exhale post cry, lay on the floor after the all-out workout or boxing session, and as you wipe your eyes and sweat find the love within to focus. Really focus.

What is in your control? … I promise, it is more than you think and feel.
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​You cannot fix everything, but you can do your part really well with your compassion intact and a commitment to continually up level your leadership skills. It’s go time.
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Using the knowledge and the wisdom I know to be true, I have given myself permission to grieve, AND I have powerfully chosen to continue to show up for community and my clients, supporting them to be fully human AND level up their leadership.
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​I invite you to work with your emotions, develop authentic confidence, and build the leadership skills to make the impact you desire.

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I feel lighter.

— Client, Reframing challenging conversations in our coaching session.