A manifesto for me

For years I have had the Holstee Manifesto hanging on my wall. I love its’ clear simplicity — both text and layout. And at various times in my life different lines have stood out to me as I look at it. 

Last December I had a breakdown. The doctors told me I was close to having a heart attack and that I had to de-stress from my life. I had five weeks off from work to rest and re-prioritise my life. As I came home from the doctor’s office, the line ‘This is your Life’ stood out to me. I knew I didn’t want this life anymore. I spent most of the next 10 days asleep letting my body recover from the physical, mental and emotional stress I had been under.

When I woke up I felt like Rip van Winkle, but the line that stood out to me then was ‘Travel Often; getting lost will help you find yourself’. So that day I booked a ticket to Wellington, New Zealand and left the next day. I had ten glorious days in New Zealand. I spent some time with one of my closest friends, but much of the time I traveled around the South Island on my own following my intuition.

My intuition and I had kind of given up being on speaking terms. I had turned away from listening to her ages ago for a whole lot of reasons that I won’t go into at the moment. But this trip helped me find her and in so doing, I found myself again.

I returned to Australia in a different head space than when I had left. By the first week of January, I looked at the line, ‘If you don’t like your job, Quit.’ I’m not a quitter. It’s part of playing the role of the perfectionist my whole life. But I had come to see how my job was affecting my physical, mental, emotional and even my spiritual health. I couldn’t do it anymore. So I quit.

‘Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them, so go out and start creating.’ This line led me to taking a leap of faith to set up a business to organise an international conference for some people I had met years ago. I figured it would provide an outlet for me to be creative with them and still be able to pay the bills. So I jumped in with both feet. My intuition told me it was going to be ok. And so far it has been. In fact, it’s been better than ok. It’s been great.

By not working in a traditional office, I was able to say yes to property managing my friends’ house at my favourite beach. ‘Some opportunities come only once, Seize them.’ Part of the deal is that I can stay there whenever it isn’t rented. So I stay there as often as I can. Walking on the beach with my dog keeps me grounded. ‘Do what you love and do it often.’ This beach, this ocean, this bit of forest is in my blood. I don’t know how, but I feel happier here than anywhere else on earth. And it has provided me the space to work on myself this year.

I may have slept for ten days last December but in many respects, I feel like I’ve been asleep for years and have recently woken up. I’ve realised that ‘Life is Short’ and remembered my creativity, my passion for life.

I’ve started yet another new business, based on this blog, to help other women remember their innate beauty, their power and why they are on this planet. ‘Live your dream and Share your passion’.

I love that the Holstee Manifesto has served me well.

But this past weekend at The Daring Way™ workshop we were asked to write our own manifesto. This came at the end of three full days of soul searching and deep internal work on being vulnerable and how one shows up in the world. By the time we received this assignment I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was be back on the beach with Reg. My body was crying out for it, as was my soul. My intuition told me to not even try to write a manifesto in that state…to wait until I got to the beach this week and that one would come.

As usual, my intuition was right.

And I loved that it was creative in how it delivered it to me. It arrived on the beach with my dog running around and with my girls around me (who I am committed to raising as brave, confident, strong women). One of my daughters took a time lapse photo of my manifesto which I’m posting here.

If it’s too fast for you, here it is written out. My manifesto is:
Believe
Be Loving
Be Grounded
Be Grateful
Be Gracious
Be Yourself
Be Strong
Be Feminine
Be Giving
Be Intuitive
Be Silent
Be Playful
Be Generous
Be Kind
Be Beautiful
Be Receiving
Be Loud
Be Brave
Be Spiritual
Be Adventurous
Be Wholehearted
Believe

I love that it’s all about the being and not about the doing. I’ve had enough of doing things that don’t serve me and others around me. I hope when I look at this manifesto over the next year, next five years, rest of my life, it helps me like the last one did by reminding me of what’s important to me.