Lessons From My Granddaughter

Isn't it hard to work?I have lost track of how many people have asked that of me so far. Doesn't having a baby in the house while working from home make it harder to get stuff done?

And I'm happy to say yes AND no. 

Yes, I want to cuddle up with her and play.
Yes, I want to be available to help my daughter out all of the time.
Yes, it's a distraction when I'm trying to do deep work to hear that little voice start to cry.

And no, having her around has been amazing for my business BECAUSE she is a distraction. I mean, I no longer have the luxury of doing things that are extra, that are optional, that are me just filling the work day.

See if I real want to go cuddle or help my daughter or read some Dr. Seuss to Lizzie, then I gotta get shit done. I have to be committed to focusing on the most important task only. There's not time for fluff or surfing. There's no space for losing track of time. I gotta get in and create magic time and time again - no room for anything less. 

And I'll tell you what - this last month has been the most successful month of my coaching career. I have never proposed more or created more in a condensed period of time. And it's all because my desire to play is so prevalent.  I can hear her little voice in the background calling to me. I can feel myself sliding into a flow state, where work just becomes easy. 

I'll tell you one more thing that was unexpected for me - I no longer see my success as something optional, as something that I want but have never full heartedly committed to. This might sound bad, but I feel as if I never really felt that urge to create a legacy with my business. Not that I'm not passionate about coaching, I completely am and love my work, it's just that being a mother and building my lifestyle was my top priority, and my work was always something that was optional. 

But suddenly I'm staring into the face of my granddaughter realizing that my only responsibility to her is showering her with pure unadulterated love and leading by example, showing her what is possible on the planet. I don't have to worry about feeding schedules or teacher meetings, I don't have to be inundated with the details of parenting. I just get to BE the person who simply loves. 

It was like looking in the face of my own mortality in a way, wondering what I would be able to show her, knowing that she'd be studying me with different eyes as well. I'm the person she'll go to as a teen when she's sparring with her mother, I'm the person she'll go to to eat the forbidden foods. I'm the person who will sit and read her book after book after book without getting up to clean the house. I'm the person she'll want to have conversations about what I do.

I'm also the person that she may someday have to bury. 

What will I have shown her? 

I hope to show her that life is filled with infinite possibilities and I believe in each of them for her AS I HAVE DONE FOR MYSELF. 

So if you ask what this little being has done to rock my world, I feel as if the fires had finally been lit to high. There's no waiting until the kids are grown and gone to really push the limits of my business. The time is NOW. 

And there is no limit to how much love I can give. There's no holding back. Heart wide open staring into those big questioning eyes knowing that these are the moments Grandmas are made for.

So to answer the questions around how hard it is to have a baby in the house while I'm working… best gift ever.