As I waited for my son after school, I stared out the windshield at the trees swaying in the late afternoon breeze. A month from now, most of their leaves will clutter the ground in fiery hues.
That thought reminded me of all the times I recently read and heard that a multitude of people are at a crossroads in their lives. Falling away from what they thought was their place, these fiery spirits want more with regards to purpose, meaning and significance in their personal and professional lives. The events of recent years have sparked a mass re-examination.
Are you one of those leaves piling up at the crossroads waiting for a strong wind to take you down the right path? The brutal truth is, as Mel Robbins puts it:
“No one is coming to save you. No one is coming to push you. It’s all up to YOU. You need to parent yourself if you want to make your dreams come true. You CAN do it… you just have to stop waiting to feel like it.”
While it is true that only YOU can take that first step, you don’t have to do it alone. Guidance and accountability can be found through coaches, therapists, and communities (online or in person) of those standing shoulder to shoulder with you at the crossroads. And with the growing number of people experiencing this, there’s sure to be articles and resources available online.
I’m writing about this because I’m also in this crowd at the crossroads. Ever since my last contract concluded, I thought about what direction I wanted to take as a visual storyteller. I just didn’t know. After a few years of steady work (minus the pandemic lockdown period), I wasn’t sure if I wanted to jump back into the whole networking events cycle to sell myself or hope to find a company with a flexible schedule to work with my personal responsibilities. I also want to create work that’s meaningful and has a real purpose outside of sales alone.
Looking back at a blog I wrote in the Fall five years ago; I had just changed the name from The Cinematic Craftsman to Seen and Heard: Connecting You to Your Buyers. New to marketing at the time, I thought it was all about revealing yourself as a person and creative to establish trust with potential clients. Then I kept hearing, It’s not about you, it’s about them and shifted to more objective information that might be relevant, but kept infusing personal experiences here and there.
Now in a very different world, there’s a need to know yourself first to connect with those you want to reach. Once you’re clear about your story, you can then share that to gain the trust necessary for lasting connections.
My blog title is now Seen and Heard: Connecting With Yourself and Your Buyers.
My intent is to share my journey as well as explore how connecting with yourself can open the possibilities to BE SEEN AND HEARD and create the relationships so vital for a thriving business and a fulfilling life.