are you as mad as a March hare?
As a child, I was a big reader. I’d wolf down books like they were the tastiest mouthfuls in a sweetie shop. New authors, old authors, kids’ books or my mum’s old ones. I loved imagining the characters, their looks, their voices and mannerisms.
Alice in Wonderland’s tea parties were a vibrant scene in my head, as the words came alive off the page and the characters interacted with one and other, creating a hubbub of clinking crockery, munching mouths and all sorts of conversations.
image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_par_John_Tenniel_25.png
Sometimes creating change or adding stretch to your life and career can feel a bit like being at your own tea party. Are you the guest of honour taking it all in or dashing around fussing over everyone else or perhaps you’re the March Hare, pulling at your ears and getting stressed out?
Are you as mad as a March hare when it comes to moving your life and career forward?
You’re not alone. We all hit times when we get flustered, overwhelmed and anxious about what we should or shouldn’t be doing, if our reasons are right, is our progress at the right pace or what others are doing around us.
So before you start hopping about randomly, try these tips to leap smoothly ahead:
Recognise your feelings in the moment
This simple action of truly and openly accepting you feel the way you do can and does reduce the impact those feelings are having on you. I like to use a piece of paper folded in half – on the left, I jot down how I feel and on the right, how I’d like to feel. I then tear it in half, screw up the left hand side and bin it. I pin the right hand side on my wall, pop it in my note-book or photo it on my phone to remind me of how I choose to feel.
What’s the source of your madness?
Tracking down the origins of your madness and seeing it with fresh eyes can help you separate them out. Another of my childhood joys was playing “animal, mineral or vegetable” or twenty questions. To get your started, here’s a few I like to begin with:
- Am I the source of my anxiety?
- What task/action is causing me anxiety?
- Who else is influencing my madness?
- Is the pace of change causing my spin?
Take the next question that pops into your mind, as soon as you answer your first. Your gut reaction will be your natural, instinctive guide here – be open to its questions and you’ll get to the bottom – probably in less than twenty questions.
Jump on it
Identifying how you feel and the sources of your March Hare impersonation allows you to find the leaps, hops and jumps to leaving your anxiety behind. Prioritise the area(s) causing you the most frustration and break it down into manageable actions – that could be just starting or stopping some thing or changing your approach to your current one. Remember you can’t eat a whole elephant in one sitting – you got chunk it up into bitesize pieces.
Check the guestlist
Having the right or wrong people around you can make a huge difference to your madness and they don’t even have to be physically present. Maybe you’re experiencing a touch of “compare-itus” – that horrid process where you see what others are doing or achieving and that makes you feel like you’re failing, zaps the spring in your energy or blocks you completely. I say uninvite them. They’re not welcome at your party.
Who would be a great guest? Invite anyone who provides you were confidence, inspiration and compassionate support. Oh, and anyone who bakes yummy cakes too…..
Creating what you want in life can drive you mad at times and might feel like pulling your ears over your eyes, like the March hare. Follow these suggestions and give your ears a rest. Look forward to what the future holds when your goals and ambitions are achieved. More laughter. More satisfaction. More positivity. More balance. More of whatever you’re seeking.
Why not share your madness with me and I’ll provide you some answers and suggestions to put the spring back in your hare-ing about.
