Closed doors
What is your beginning? The obvious and most logical answer is the day that you were born. This is not a trick question. My intention in asking this question is for you to reflect if you can pinpoint a time in your life when you felt that it was indeed a new beginning, a new chapter in your life. Perhaps, it was the day you became a teenager or when you graduated from high school. That moment when you received your first job offer. or when you knelt down and proposed to your girlfriend.
We all have different definitions of our beginnings. One (or shall I say three?) of my most impactful beginnings was when I became a mother to my 3 amazing children. Each beginning was unique and memorable. These beginnings have also shaped me into who I am today. As for my coaching journey, my beginning occurred when I took the leap of faith to start my coach training. My journey as a coach has enabled me to fully understand and know myself. I have also been privileged and honoured to have formed many strong relationships with fellow coaches around the world where we continually support one another in our respective coaching journeys. Do I wish I could turn back time? Not for these events in my life but yes, there are other events in my life where I wish I was wiser and made better choices. However, just as we all have our beginnings, it is not humanly possible to turn back time to the source, the catalyst that propelled us to where we are now.
“When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
Do we linger on, looking at the closed doors in our lives? Do we let these closed doors hold us back from exploring other doors that are wide open? We may be too focused on the closed doors that we do not even notice the opportunities and possibilities in our lives.
What are your closed doors? Was it that harsh comment made by your father when you didn’t meet his expectations as a 10-year-old boy? Was it when you received critical feedback about your job performance from your manager? Was it when you didn’t obtain the promotion that you worked so hard for?
What can you do to move forward, turn away from these closed doors and stay resilient to search and be open to new opportunities? You are no longer that 10-year-old boy. Your past need not determine your present moments and your future days. You do not have to be “stuck” with your past and limiting beliefs.
Photo by Gabriele Stravinskaite on Unsplash
You can decide how you will deal with the critical feedback or missed promotion, either to dwell on it and let your emotions and morale spiral downwards or to reflect on it and choose to find ways to improve your future performance. Ask yourself these questions to change your perspectives:
1) What can I learn from this?
2) What can I be grateful for in this situation?
3) What will happen if I continue in this perspective?
4) What am I not seeing or acknowledging?
5) What can I do in the next few days, few weeks, months to change my current situation?
If any of these questions inspire you to move away from your closed doors and towards new possibilities and new perspectives, contact us today to explore these questions further and uncover ground-breaking truths to start living an intentional and purposeful life!
