Freedom!

Hello brave friend!

Two years ago on July 1st, 2021, I posted a picture of myself on social media with some inspired caption about showing up for my first day as my own boss. I remember it well, I had just stepped away from a 28 year career in education, the only profession I had ever known, to start my own coaching business. In the weeks and months that had led up to that day I had planned, prepared, scheduled, designed and most importantly dreamed!! I had long dreamed of listening to my heart, aligning with my truth and following my ‘North Star’, and it was finally here! All that work had prepared me and I felt READY… but I was also scared shitless!

When I look back at that photo, with no makeup on, looking fresh and a bit raw, just wanting to be authentic, I want to tell her how amazing we’re doing! I want her to know that she can release all that fear and anxiety about making it. It won’t look like she planned… I know what she has mapped out and it won’t be anything like what she has in mind. It will be better… and worse, and more wonderful and more demanding than she expects. I see all the wonder in her eyes… but what I see most is freedom.

It’s interesting to me that the idea of freedom and the experience of it can be entirely different. Or perhaps it’s that freedom is exquisitely complex and complicated. I think of the times I have thrown my arms open wide and without reservation threw myself forward grabbing hold of a sense of complete freedom in the moment. Like the times I used to ride my bike hands free down a steep hill. My heart ripping open, my soul bursting into the sunlight, I felt SO FREE! That is a liberating feeling… that freedom ignites me. This is when I feel like nothing can stop me. 

I have also known a freedom in which I am in complete and total control of my thoughts, opinions, choices, and I own the outcome of my actions. I know that I am FREE to do and be whatever I choose. That freedom feels BOLD and BRAVE. I know there is ownership and consequence… but it’s MINE and I know that I am in charge of my destiny.  I am in charge of ME. That freedom empowers me. It’s sobering as it holds the weight of responsibility. I must step forward and take hold of my birthright and it feels both powerful and humbling. I have a reverence for this freedom. And if I am being completely honest, this freedom is hard for me.. I so desperately want it, but I must be willing to own the responsibility before it will be mine.

So, on the eve of the Fourth of July, a day we mark the freedom of our nation, I am keenly aware of all that freedom offers and demands of us, and I want to sit with that for a moment. The freedom we have (and also don’t have), in all its complexity and in all its forms, comes with both the delight of soul exploding, heart leaping joy… as well as, powerful weight and responsibility. While it might be tempting to look at this from a wide angle lens, and talk about our civic responsibility and our commitment to the collective community… I am actually going to pull us inward.

I want to invite you to think about where you are longing for freedom and how you can honor and extend that inward. What is your soul crying out for and where do you remain locked up and stuck. How might you be keeping your dreams and purpose hidden for fear of freedom’s weight? Where do you long to throw off the shackles and run wild with your arms extended feeling weightless and free? Where is your heart longing to go, what dreams have been hidden? What freedom aches to be felt in you?

Where too is there ownership for YOU that perhaps you have been handing over to others? How might you be giving your freedom away by taking on what isn’t yours or failing to set boundaries so you carry far more than you own? This too is your responsibility! Where are you called to boldly and bravely grab hold of your freedom and proclaim what is yours?

So, today your Mindful Mini invitation is about feeling ALL the freedom and fully OWNING it. It is both soul igniting and demanding. It is liberating and sobering. It will light you up and require you to sit in the darkness. It starts with listening to your own brave voice. It’s ok if you’re not quite sure what freedom looks like for you… just take a deep breath and ask yourself! Ask what you’re longing to release, what bonds need to be broken. How will you FREE yourself? It’s time for you to step up and declare freedom! Don’t wait a moment longer! Boldly declare freedom for yourself! You are SO WORTH IT!

Yours in heart,

Kelly Driscoll