January 2021

Making the decision to push through the discomfort of your personal transformational growth is the key to inner peace and happiness.  My personal experiences create the foundation for my advocating for others to take charge of their personal journey to find inner peace and life’s purpose. 

I often use the 3 feet vs deepwater metaphor as a way of describing the difference between living life all in or on the sidelines.  Living life as a spectator from the beach shore, wading in 3 feet of water, and experiencing life from the ‘shallow end’, or taking the plunge into the deep sea represent the differences in how you choose to live your life.  The beach view and the view while wading is what I call playing it safe too often, people don’t go out and see what is out there.  There are scary things in the deep water, but there is a beauty too.”

There is a false sense of safety in living a comfortable life; a life from which you can easily retreat to safety. The risk of playing it safe is living a life from the shore, I encourage you to live in that scary space of deep water.

The scary space is where your passions connect and intersect with your god given talents. This intersection is where you will find your purpose. This is where you will get comfortable with the uncomfortable and from where you should operate your life.

How do you navigate your way to the scary place and find inner peace?

Start by inventorying the things you are good at.  With no constraints, just let your “what you’re good at” ideas flow wildly. A “what you’re good at” brain dump will define your path.

I use self-awareness tools like DISC and Strength Finder to dig deep and discover purpose.  It takes a high level of self-awareness and reflection in knowing how you present and are received by others. 

“You can’t understand another until you learn about yourself.”-Rachel Graham

Living all in is like “unlocking” the lockbox. Living all in is when you courageously share the real, authentic, and vulnerable parts of yourself, that part that you normally keep tightly locked away in your lockbox.  When we get too close to what is in the box, instead of standing strong in the scary place, most people lean on behavior patterns that soothe the uncomfortable and vulnerable feelings. 

I noticed a transformational shift in my life when I became aware of and committed to transforming, I was able to confront the past and the demons that live there. It is that come to Jesus moment when you decide what you want out of life and how you are going to become involved enough, changing the dynamics, in order to get there.

As the transformation process progresses, you become aware that there are pros and cons to playing it safe in life.  Although playing deep can be scary, it can also become your ally.  Most of the time “scary” is what you fear will happen, it is rarely the reality. When you play in the deep water of life, you can’t feel the shifting of waters in the same way as you can in shallow waters.

“Difficult and meaningful will always bring more satisfaction than easy and meaningless”- Maxime Lagace

Are you looking for an inspiring and dynamic speaker?  Invite me to speak at your next event. I am a health entrepreneur, leadership coach, and empowering optimist who is dedicated to educating people, business leaders, students, and professionals to find their own meaning and purpose. Contact Rachel Graham today.