30-Day Challenge to Empty Nest Success: Who are you? 💚 (17/30)

The Your Empty Nest Coach Podcast, Episode 185

30-Day Challenge to Empty Nest Success: Who are you? (17/30)

FULL TRANSCRIPT

[level-up music]

Who are you? is our topic for today (Day 17) in the 30-Day Challenge to Empty Nest Success. 

[upbeat music under dialogue]

If this is your first time listening,  know we are diving into the challenge content. If you like what you hear, jump back to the episode titled “Getting Started with the 30-Day Challenge to Empty Nest Success” and then work your way through from the beginning - or visit EmptyNestSuccess.com to sign up for daily or weekly email delivery of this challenge that will lead you to companion videos, additional journal prompts, resources and more! 

Here we go: 

[end music]

00:42

Amazing human and beautiful soul, if I sit and ask you right now, who are you? What's the first description that comes to mind? What do you say? 

[pause with some upbeat music]

 I’m curious. 

Did your answer include or was it all, your roles and your responsibilities?  Whether the roles are parent, your career, blue collar work, home maker work or a corporate position; mother of [insert how many children you have], a volunteer role, or something else? 

I get it. You've been doing these roles, potentially all of them, for decades. And it makes sense that you immediately identify with being a role that  you fill. Today, I challenge you, today, to consider that you are more than your roles and your responsibilities. 

You know how I like: What if? What if you were born to be here on this planet for a reason. No, I don't know your reason. You, you, and only you can determine why you're here. But you might not actually know right now and that may be because you have spent decades filling these roles and responsibilities - sometimes AMAZINGLY well - taking the steps that everyone's supposed to take in life, keeping up with the Joneses or not keeping up with the Joneses. 

There are ways in our society that we are simply supposed to do things. Aren’t there? But who made those up anyway? 

And for some of you, maybe your full identity is in doing the opposite of what you were told you are supposed to do. 

It works both ways.  

But here's what I want to share with you today: that you - you right now - you listening to this podcast episode as you are sitting in the car, doing the laundry, just getting out of bed just about to go to bed, wherever you are,  stop 

for a moment. 

[pause] 

Take in that you, you amazing human,  may be here for a reason (I believe that for you but do you believe it for you?) You, amazing human, are worthy to exist as you are right now. Fully. 

The you that was born into this world, before humans got a hold of you and told you how you’re supposed to behave, how you need to show up - that version of you is still there. That version of you might be a little hard to find but they are happy to be here. They find joy in things that you, right now, kind of now take for granted. They have dreams - some [giggle] might think are kind of wild too, and so many exciting ideas for the future. 

I invite you to consider that there’s more to you under all of your roles and responsibilities.  

Do with this what you will. 

Honestly, you can turn this episode off now no one's making you listen to it. Or, you can begin to take the steps of this C.E.O.  - life (the Conscious Effective Olympian) living - where you begin to consider that your thoughts are optional, consider that you are receiving thought-box-deliveries; that you have been receiving thought-box-deliveries over the years, and over the years, and over the years. Maybe you’ve received so many of the same packages that you have begun to believe that that is who you are. 

But there’s a whole ‘nother part of you. The part of you that you know. The part of you who has dreams who has a purpose. And yes, that purpose can change over time. And your dreams? Your dreams don't have to be what most humans could consider huge and they don’t have to be specific either. Maybe your dream is: you want to wake up happy and I gotta tell you, that's a dream that I currently strive for every single day.  

It has taken me some well curated simmering, training of my protector and inspecting of thought-box-deliveries for me to realize that the to-do list that has 500 things on it -  and I will never ever catch up on, well, that list, I didn’t really make it for myself.

Yes, physically, I may have gone through the motions of adding items to a list (whether it be paper or online), but guess where the thought-box-deliveries came from telling me that I need to put this on my list. I’ll tell you, it’s a variety of places. Many are well-meaning and in a moment may sound amazing for myself. 

I’m going to be really vulnerable with you, right now, there are days where I just want to walk in the woods, and hang out for hours on end, but then there’s the roles and responsibilities of all the things I have to do. 

Sometimes, those things on my to-do list, those really can wait - and after further inspection, some of them don’t belong there at all - AT ALL. 

But it is only with a clearer mind that I’m able to clear the list in a way that I feel good about. 

Does this resonate at all with you? 

To be clear, in who you are, if you are a parent, yes, of course you are a parent. You're an amazing parent, who made it this far without an instruction manual, too! I am not saying to remove the idea of being a parent completely from your identity. However, I encourage you to consider that that's not all of who you are. Being the partner to your partner is not all of who you are. Your job is not all of who you are. The combination of those things that apply to you, together, are not all of who you are. You, yes you, are worthy of existing on this planet without doing all the things. You really are. 

Start there and you may find life opens up in ways you never expected.

07:04

[level-up music]

Your journal prompt for today is … How has being a parent impacted your sense of identity?

[exit music - upbeat]

Thanks for listening today! I invite you to explore more of who you are and don’t you dare forget that you are amazing! 

Chat next time! 

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