August always feels a bit double edged to me, a goodbye and a beginning.
The holidays are slowly coming to an end. The pace starts picking up again. Calendars begin to fill, inboxes wake up, and many of us start thinking about the final stretch of the year.
In many ways, August feels like the Monday of the year.
And just like on a Monday morning, we stand at a gate and ask ourselves…
How do I feel about what lies ahead?
Am I excited? Inspired? Curious?
Or am I carrying that familiar feeling that another season has passed while the things I promised myself I would change are still exactly the same?
Maybe you’ve told yourself that life will feel different after the holidays. After this project. When the children are older. When work slows down.
I know that feeling.
I’ve been there myself.
A while ago, I received a message from someone I got to know during those first trembling steps after my burnout many years ago.
He had seen one of my posts and wrote:
“I’m proud of you and your journey. I really enjoy the positivity you are sharing.”
His words made me stop for a moment.
Because if I’m honest, I’m very good at focusing on the next thing. Like many people, I move forward, make plans and keep going without always noticing how far I’ve actually come.
Looking back on those early years after my burnout, I can still feel the uncertainty I carried with me. I remember taking one of the big leaps of my life and travelling to Australia, a dream I had carried for more than twenty years.
I wasn’t fearless.
I wasn’t overflowing with confidence.
In many ways, I was still very fragile.
But I moved on because something had awakened inside of me. A longing to be more myself, and a desire to create a life that felt as good on the inside as it looked on the outside.
Step by step, decision by decision, that longing pulled me forward. Not because I suddenly became a different person, but because I slowly stopped believing that the way I had always lived was the only way.
Perhaps that is where innovation really begins. Not with bigger goals, smarter systems or working harder.
But with a question…
What if there is another way?
What if the most important innovation this August isn’t in your business, but in the way you see yourself and your possibilities?
Because possibility expands when we question the assumptions we’ve built our lives around.
- That hard work always comes first.
- That everyone else’s needs matter more than our own.
- That it’s too late to change.
- That we should have figured it all out by now.
- The truth is that growth rarely happens in giant leaps.
Most of the time, it happens quietly.
- In conversations.
- In moments of courage.
- In small decisions that move us one step closer to who we really are.
And maybe that’s what August is inviting us to do.
What if we instead of judging ourselves for where we are or regretting another summer gone by… simply pause long enough to notice our progress, and ask ourselves what is possible from here.
As you step into this new season, perhaps these questions are worth reflecting on:
- What assumptions am I ready to challenge?
- Where have I stopped believing in myself?
- What progress have I overlooked?
- What small step could I take today?
Because if we continue to do what we’ve always done, next month will most likely look the same.
But one new thought, one new decision, one new possibility can change more than we think.
Just so you know, You don’t have to reinvent your whole life overnight.
But maybe today is the day to stop putting yourself at the bottom of the to do list.
If you need someone to walk beside you, as you explore what is possible from here, my door is open.
Book a free call and let’s talk.
/Anneli, More than a Coach
