This summer has been one for the books.
My beloved city of Calgary – the place I’ve called home for 35 years was hit with massive flooding on June 20th. In fact, a huge portion of our province was affected. Canmore – our favourite mountain spot saw a stream turn into a raging river, taking down houses as it rushed by. Bragg Creek – a quaint town 25 minutes away where we often take the kids for a walk and hot chocolate at the Cinnamon Spoon, was ravaged by the storms.
And my Mom and Step-Dad’s town of High River (yes, the name is unfortunate) was almost entirely destroyed. Many of the houses are still underwater weeks later. Quite honestly, it looks like a war zone as you drive through the town seeing taped-up fridges by the curb, dusty debris piled high waiting for garbage pick-up and people walking around in white jump suits and face masks.
They were given no notice – a bang at the door from the local fire department, telling my Mom that they better get out – NOW. They left with the clothes on their backs. And it was more than a week later – on Canada Day actually – that they were allowed back into their home to start the rebuilding process.
Their home was given an orange sticker – one colour shy of a full demolition. The water went right up to the basement ceiling and destroyed everything. Years of memories, toys stashed away for my kids (including my childhood Cabbage Patch Kid, which I’m shedding a tear over) and a library of books got hauled out and dumped.
Outside my Mom & Don’s place — the remains of their basement
Mom & Don smiling in spite of it…
It will be months before things are back to ‘normal’. And even then, they’ll have to create a new normal and grieve the loss of what was.
As you can imagine, my heart and mind have been preoccupied with what’s been going on. I ditched my ticket to the (always wonderful) World Domination Summit to stay home and be there as needed. It’s been distracting and disconcerting to say the least – which is why it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me.
And truth be told, this disaster gave me a bit of a wake-up call (as major life events have the convenient tendency to do).
It’s easy to wax poetic about life being short, and making it count and doing what you love – and all the other self-help diatribes, but until you’re face forward in the muck (literally and figuratively) of a big, game-changing reality – it’s more ideal that truth.
Until one day it isn’t.
So behind-the-scenes I’ve been asking myself some tough questions – ones I don’t always have the answers to. “What do I REALLY want?” “If I could create the business and life exactly the way I wanted, what would it look like?” “Do I want to build an ’empire’ or am I ok with slower growth if it means more time with family and friends?” “What’s the next evolution of my business and how do I transition into it naturally, without taking you for 90 degree turn out of nowhere.”
You know – the easy questions. 😉
Because what I keep coming back to, day after day, through my convos with friends and my morning pages, is that my responsibility is to hold myself to creating the business I truly want and that is truly a reflection of my unique greatness – one that’s in service of me AND my right people. That life really IS short – and that when it comes to claiming your purpose, there’s literally no time to waste.
The good news is that I’m so damn close to it — I’ve worked hard over the past years to design my business in a way that would best support my life, but it still needs some adjustments. You’ll see those reflected over this space in the coming months – nothing drastic, just a few nuanced shifts that align me closer to what I’m here on earth to do (which is to help you claim your greatness btw – in case you were wondering).
As a side note, I’ve seen greatness personified through this disaster — the communities and people that have rallied together to recover and rebuild have been nothing short of incredible. As one of my clients said a couple of weeks ago – “It’s reminded me that it’s not about me – it’s about being of service.”
While this post has been quite personal, my hope is that it’ll serve as a spark or just a reminder that as George Eliot says in my favourite quote:
“It’s never too late to be what you might have become.”
Don’t wait to create the business you want.
Name it. Claim it. And then make it happen.Â
p.s. hear more about the floods and my business shifts as I talk candidly with the ever-hilarious Jessica Kupferman on Lady Business Radio. Check out our interview here.
