So the big question that my client had asked herself is, am I going to ride the surfboard
or am I going to keep riding this mountain bike that really isn't making me happy? Welcome
back to my channel. I'm Heather Evans, a self care and empowerment coach working with people
around the world. For the best advice on living your most empowered life remember to subscribe
to my channel and click on that bell to get notified when I release a new video every
Monday and Thursday. I was recently in a session with a client
and I wanted to share this experience with you in the event that it helps you make a
choice in your life. This is a client that I've been working with for a couple of years
and she is an incredible human and she's currently in the process of making a career transition.
Now, here's the deal. When we are in the midst of a career transition, we can begin to question
ourselves. We can begin to question our capacity to handle something new, we can question whether
or not we've got what it takes to make this shift, we can even begin to question if we
should leave the current role even if it isn't serving us or lighting us up. And that's where
my distinction between the surfboard and the mountain bike comes in.
This particular client loves to surf. She lights up when she is on a surfboard. She
learned to surf a few years ago and it's something that she knows is an integral part of her
living in alignment with her truth. When she's on the surfboard, she feels a number of things.
Empowered, she feels free, she feels like she's in control and she feels lit up. She
literally comes alive when she's on top of her surfboard. Recently, she was given an
opportunity to take a new position with a new company. However, she wanted to stick
it out in her current role, even though it's not something that is lighting her up. It's
what I call her mountain bike. Now, she got into this role thinking it was
going to be something different. Thinking that the environment would be different and
that the work she was going to be doing would actually be lighting her up, but instead of
her current rule of being her surfboard, it's ended up being her mountain bike. This thing
that she actually resists getting on. When I was in session with her, I made this distinction
that the work that she wants to be doing should feel like her honest surfboard. She should
feel lit up, in control, confident and free. She shouldn't be feeling like she's getting
on a mountain bike. And by the way, the mountain bike could be as a result of a variety of
things. In this case, it's as a result of these specific tasks she's being given to
do as well as the environment in which she's working with.
In other words, when I compared her current role to a mountain bike, her immediate reaction
was, "Oh no, I don't like mountain bikes." I want her to be riding her surfboard, not
dreading getting on the mountain bike. If you were to say it from the crest of a
wave on your surfboard, you're saying it going, "Yeah, I'm going to do my best, I'm going
to launch this product and then I'm going to go. And do you know what? I'm going to
enjoy the process of waxing up the board, I'm going to enjoy the process of saying my
goodbyes before I run into the ocean, I'm going to enjoy the process. I'm going to enjoy
the steps that get me to the water." When it came time for her to make a decision
to shift, she had to do some excavation as to what's keeping me on this mountain bike.
Why do I feel obligated to ride the mountain bike and not move toward riding my surfboard?
When it came down to it, there was a lot of stories that needed to be excavated about
ideas, about being a quitter, about not seeing something through, about disappointing other
people and letting people down. All of these stories that she had to unearth and excavate,
those were the things that were keeping her on her mountain bike, not the work itself.
Once we uncovered that the things that were keeping her on the mountain bike, this thing
that she really didn't like to write, by the way, if you love mountain biking, maybe it's
flipped in reverse for you. You'd rather ride the mountain bike than get on the surfboard.
We all have our things. But when we on earth and excavated that it
was stories keeping her on the mountain bike and not actually her commitment to the work
that wasn't lighting her up at all, things became much clearer. And her decision to put
an end date to her work with this particular company so that she could move on to a surfboard
became much more easeful. We were able to excavate and unearth the stories, we were
able to deconstruct them and work from a place of truth. The moment she started working from
a place of truth, I could see she was riding her surfboard.
So my question to you is whether it's in your relationships, in your work, whatever it is
that you're doing in your life, are you riding your surfboard or your mountain bike? I'd
love to know what you're riding. Are you on your surfboard feeling lit up, confident and
in control every day or are you dreading getting on that mountain bike? Leave a comment below.
If you're interested in doing deeper work in a group coaching setting, I'd like to invite
you to join us for The Inner Fire Membership Program. Enrollment is open. I'm going to
include a link for you to register and join us below. I hope you found this video interesting
and helpful. If you did, be sure to subscribe to my channel and click on that bell to get
notified when I release new videos every Monday and Thursday. Stay ignited out there and on
your surfboard. I will see you soon. Bye.