Where is Home for You?

For the past few weeks, I have been reflecting a lot on what it will feel and look like to leave Cumberland and return to Lincoln. To be honest, it gives me some anxiety, "Where is the anxiety coming from?"

• Change-leaving a place and people I have become so comfortable with, a place where I feel completely myself, and going back to a place that has changed since I have been there, a place where I LOVE my purpose, but at times, I feel like I have outgrown personally, a place that has allowed me to grow and evolve, but does not provide me with the same boost of energy anymore. Will I lose this comfort and peace that I have found here?

• Uncertainty- what will actually happen at UNL? They say we are going back to campus, but will we? Will we be back to remote before the school year starts or within the first month? What will this new change bring with it for me, my team, our students, and my community of friends?

• Fear- I have been in a place where I have only needed to see people who I know and trust. Now, I am going into an environment with 30,000+ people from all over the world and I cannot control their actions. What if I get COVID and I am not able to come home? What if I get others sick?

• Questioning and exploring- I have known since the beginning, 7 years ago, that Lincoln was not my forever place so is now the time to make the change and embrace this transition? Can I continue to live out my purpose and do the job I love remote to embrace the best of both worlds? What other opportunities are presenting themselves that I am now ready to say yes to?

Now, what happens next to move through this fear and grow?

• Trust myself- listen to my intuition and trust that I will make the best decision for me, when the time is right.

To help in this transition into the next phase, whatever that may look like, I am reflecting on a few COVID-19 questions that WYLD Leadership posted some powerful self-starting questions to help us re-entry on their instagram a few months back. (WYLD Leadership is my dear friend Kristin's consulting, coaching, organization who I have the pleasure of working with as a guide).

Jay-Z knows what‘s up; re-entry is an opportunity to reintroduce ourselves. It’s a chance to practice what we could have been doing all along - teaching each other and listening.

Before diving into our worlds again, let’s share about our CV19 experiences meaningfully. What are your new values & hopes & fears & boundaries? Create shared expectations and agreements for how to work and live together again. Follow and edit these basic go-to starters for navigating re-entry with friends, co-workers, family.

Please allow me to reintroduce myself...

My name is…

On a scale of 1-10 (1 = not at all), I am a ___ on feeling comfortable around and being with others right now.

My greatest fear right now is ____ .

ex) giving CV19 to my mom, etc.

My greatest learning so far has been _____ .

ex) I needed rest, I am an artist, etc.

The social guidelines I like to follow are ____ .

ex) no sharing food, etc.

If I see others doing _____ I most likely will go home.

ex) licking stuff, talking politics, ect.

I feel silly asking this but do you mind if ___

ex) we don’t go inside? don’t talk about news, etc.

Iterate agreements as you go. This is hard. Communication makes things easier. We can do hard things.

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As I reflect on this transition and change, I have also reflected on the significance of home."Home" can be so many places and feel like so many different things. I have lived away from my physical home for 11 years. 11 years?? Looking back, so much growth has happened for me in those 11 years: Learning how to create and live a life that I love; saying yes to opportunities that felt right for for me; falling in love with myself; sharing my talents and gifts with others to create open, loving spaces that foster connection; letting go of unwanted energy; and most importantly, learning the difference between being alone and being lonely; finding home within myself. As my dear friend Anna shared with me, "the relationship we have with our self is the longest relationship we will ever have." If we do not love and appreciate ourselves fully, how can we expect others to do the same in return?

Living in Cumberland these past 5 months has been a beautiful blessing in disguise. This time and space has allowed me to continue to grow in amazing ways:

1. Appreciating the slow down of time and shifting from doing to being.

2. Channeling my energy into my daily, growth-facilitating practices (journaling, reading, yoga, walking, quality time with family and friends).

3. Investing in and strengthening relationships through virtual means, growing my relationship with my amazing roommates (mom & dad), and reconnecting to family and friends.

4. Reflecting on what REALLY makes me feel alive to help me to connect to my true purpose.

5. Realizing how soothing and energizing it is to immersed in nature, witnessing mother nature work her magic while soaking up the sunrise journaling and practicing yoga on the dock, evening swims under the glow of the moon, kayaking to chase the sunset, soaking up the stillness of the night as the loons sing and the owls hoot, and swaying with the breeze while reading in my hammock.

6. Creating time and space (emotionally, mentally, and physically) to play an active role in my anti-racist journey to create authentic spaces for others to be accepted, appreciated, heard, and valued for who they and what they bring to this world so we can ALL thrive!

7. Trusting my intuition to allow me to embrace the unknown, being more present in the moment so I can appreciate the little things, and continue to discover all that is me.

These past 5 months have taught me that home does not have to be a physical place; home is where you feel fully alive and connected to who you are; a place where you feel loved and celebrated for you and your inner treasure. This can be a physical place, an experience, being surrounded by people who truly SEE you, getting lost in a book, time with yourself, sitting under the sun, eating a yummy meal, writing a letter, expressing your self through creativity, sharing something exciting with someone you love, going on a new adventure, moving your body and so much more... home is within you and everywhere around you.

"Every moment is a reawakening, a chance to meet myself exactly where I am. I am finally allowing myself to just be. Be giddy. Be irritable. Be vulnerable. Be silly. Be exhilarated. Be whomever and however I am. When we do this, we allow others the same freedom of expression that we are learning to grant ourselves." Alicia Keys, More Myself

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People, Places, Things (PPT) List

My dear friend Emma shared this blog post: Why You Should Make a PPT (People, Places, Things) List to Own This Chapter of Your Life Right Now by Ariel Upton with me a while back and I think it provides beautiful insight into helping us continue to stay motivated and focus on what brings good energy into our lives to fuel our courageous spirits as we continue to experience change.

Ariel shares how this practice has impacted her life: With each list, she cemented the people who meant the most to her, the places that brought her the most comfort, and the things that elevated her life. This is what this practice has brought to my life. As we grow we are essentially in a phase of constant expansion if we allow ourselves to be. There is always room for more—more growth, more experience, more interests. And while more can be appealing, it can also be terribly distracting. More pushes us to go wide, instead of going deep. It’s important to recognize that there are seasons for more just as there are seasons for less. Enter COVID-19. This pandemic, while completely without a playbook or any certainty on what the other side of this will look like, is a transition at its core. Similar, not the same, to transitions we’ve all navigated before: new job, new city, new spouse, new child, new chapter, new season. This transition is begging for a PPT list all it’s own."

Let’s celebrate the people, places, and things that gives us life and are essential to us right now. Make a list of (at least) 5 people, 5 places, and 5 things that mean the most to you right now. Continue to refine your PPT list as you move through different chapters or seasons of life.

People

1. Family

2. Warriors

3. Moon group women

4. Lake friends

5. Mother nature/moon/sun

6. WYLD guide community

Places

1. Lake

2. Screen porch

3. Hammock

4. Dock

5. Terrace

Things

1. Books/journal/animal spirit cards

2. Games (monopoly deal & Catan)

3. Floating devices (sail boat, pontoon, kayak/canoe/paddle board)

4. Yoga + yoga mat

5. Phones/Face time/Zoom

6. Music/dancing

"I am stepping into the fullness of who I am. I am a child of the most high and a woman connected to the source of all creation. And with every word and every intention, I am creating the masterpiece that is my life."

Alicia Keys, More Myself

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1. Which COVID question resonates with you the most? Which one do you want to share with others?

2. Where is home for you?

3. What's on your PPT list?

4. What is something you have discovered about yourself from the past 5 months?