This Week Ate My Launch

This is my launch week for my coaching business. I had been waiting until things got a little quieter in the school year for my kids, until my website was polished up and ready to go. I felt energetically aligned. This was the moment.
And then my elderly father with Alzheimer's had a significant medical event and almost died. I happened to be visiting to help care for my mother and ended up coordinating his hospital stay, and I've been here ever since. I didn't pack a bag for as long as I've been staying, and I have not thought much about my coaching launch. I didn’t even bring my computer charger; I’m typing this on my phone. I’ve been right where I need to be, here at the hospital, making phone calls, figuring out the next steps.

I could say this is terrible timing, that I'm supposed to be all in on my business. But honestly, it's good I hadn't launched yet. What if I'd had to cancel on people instead of being more present here, where I'm needed?
The reason I'm talking about this is that part of having caretaking qualities is knowing when to show up fully and when to hold something back for yourself - this is one of the things I most want to help you with. We want to show up for our people, and sometimes we need to show up full tilt, sleeves rolled up, ready to rock, because the moment calls for it. This is one of those times for me. But attending to everyone else before attending to yourself, every day of adult life, is not sustainable. The important thing is knowing the difference, and finding some acceptance when something that matters to you gets sidelined.

Even in the middle of all of this, even with my father in crisis, every morning I've gotten up and taken a walk. I didn't rush it and I didn't skip it to get there faster. This morning, on a paved road in the middle of the suburbs, a deer walked straight toward me down the street, like it was coming for me. You can't manufacture that. But you can leave enough room for it to find you.

P.S. I may have Googled "deer medicine" in Boston traffic on the way to the hospital: Keeping your heart calm and gentle, using your intuition while navigating transitions. I mean, yes.