summer Archives

The Paradox Of Endings and New Beginnings

This week I celebrated my second daughter’s graduation from high school. She’s worked hard over these last four years and is ready for new beginnings when she heads to college in August. I’m both proud and happy for her.

The thing about new beginnings though is that they require something else to end.

In many ways, this ending is what her dad and I have been preparing for these last 18 years. Like many endings we face in life, this one is bittersweet. I must allow for two things to be present: the sadness associated with ending a time I loved raising her in our home and the celebration of her evolvement and success.

I know it’s time for new chapters — both hers and my own. And once again I am being called to answer the question, what do I want now? What do I want in this next chapter? Maybe you’re feeling called to answer the same question.

Fortunately, summertime has arrived. For me, summer has always been a time to slow down, reset, reflect, find joy in little adventures, and even experience a bucket list moment. This summer I’m going to enjoy one of those by traveling with my 79-year-old mother and two daughters to view the art and history of Italy.

While planning our visit, my oldest daughter, who is already studying abroad, reminded me to leave time for the unplanned. “Mom, don’t plan it all,” she said, as I asked her thoughts on the tours I’d scheduled. “It’s fun to just walk around and explore.” Ah. I knew she was right. I was grateful for the reminder.

A part of me is always seeking the simple, more serene life while another part tends to want to move quickly, and efficiently, preparing to get the next thing accomplished so I will be ‘prepared’ to enjoy the future. But as I was reminded by my daughter who will be leaving in just a couple of months, the moment I’ve been preparing for — and always am — is now.

A long time ago I learned to relax into whatever’s happening. Struggling against reality is exhausting and with profoundly disappointing results. Sometimes this is easier for me to do than others.

As I come off the high of the graduation celebration this weekend, I am not certain exactly of how the new puzzle pieces will fit together. But I do know what I want for sure this summer.

I want to slow down. I want more simplicity — more serenity, more presence. To me, that means more long walks. More deep talks. I want to take in every moment I have with my daughter before she leaves. This summer I vow to enjoy more of the things I did as a kid — dipping my toes in the ocean, cannonballing into a pool, sitting in silence in the early morning hours as the sun rises, eating a DQ with the car windows down and singing along to country music I love.

Sometimes it takes time for our hearts to accept what our mind already knows. Whatever ending you’re facing, give yourself grace and give yourself time.

Endings and goodbyes can be hard, but they do clear the way for a fresh start and for something more when we are ready.

We don’t know what is on the other side yet, but just like all of the other endings in my life, there was something equally beautiful — or better — on the other side.

Here’s to living in the paradox of endings and new beginnings. And leaving room for the unplanned while leaping into what calls you next and those places you’ve never been yet.

If you’re like me and feeling called to slow it down this summer, I offer you this poem, Slow Me Down, Lord, by Wilferd A. Peterson, to use as your daily reminder.

SLOW ME DOWN, LORD

Slow me down, Lord.

Ease the pounding of my heart by quieting my mind.

Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tension of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.

Help me to know the magical, restoring power of my sleep.

Teach me the art of taking “minute vacations” of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a great book.

Slow me down. Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep in the soil of life’s enduring values, that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.

~ Wilferd A. Peterson

Cheers to summer,

~Rita

Re-Entering Your Old World Without Sacrificing Your Pace

You can listen to the full podcast episode here:

It’s finally happening. We are beginning to see the world reopen little by little. While this highly anticipated change is exciting, if you are like many you may also feel some anxiety building as you begin to go back to old routines. Whether it’s returning to long hours at the office, sitting frustrated in traffic during your commute, or traveling to sports and activities for your children – busyness is on its way back my friends. But what if you don’t want it to be?

If you have incorporated new habits into your daily routine and found a slower pace over the last 15 months and a better work life balance, you don’t have to give that all up. Each of us can choose the pace in which we want to work and live. It’s time to take responsibility for designing the life we want and leading others to do the same. Let’s do away with the habits of the hurried hustler and instead spend our days with a greater ease, while also being productive and doing our most important work. Embrace this moment as an opportunity for a definitive new beginning. Are you with me?

In this episode I share:

The premise of boiling frog syndrome and how it relates to our current circumstances
Five ideas on how you can return to the world you once knew at a pace of your choosing
How to start the conversation about pace and work life balance with others in your life
An invitation to hold onto what works for you while also making room for the new
Being a leader who drives change so you are not driven in the wrong direction
An announcement on how I am slowing down this summer to make space in my life

Join the waitlist for the Bold Leader Life School here. You’ll receive first access to details when they are released!

More Resources:

Tune into the previous episode, The 4-Step Problem Solving Framework
If you’d like to be notified of when new podcast episodes are released, you can do so here: Playing Full Out
Learn more about the Inside Out Method
Connect with Rita on LinkedIn

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts for more tips, tools, and inspiration to leading the optimal vision of your life, love, and leadership. Remember, a half version of you is not enough. The world needs the fullest version of you at play.

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About Rita Hyland

With over 20 years of experience as an executive and leadership coach, Rita helps leaders — emerging and established — excel in corporate and entrepreneurial environments.

Rita believes if leaders were more clear about how transformation really works and more intentional about creating what they want, their impact, success, and influence in the world would be unstoppable.

Through her coaching programs, private coaching, and masterminds, Rita shows leaders how to win consistently and create the impact and legacy they desire.

Central to Rita’s work is the understanding that you will never outperform your current programming, no matter how strong your willpower.

When you learn to use Rita’s proprietary Neuroleadership Growth Code, a technology which uses the best of neuroscience and transformational psychology to hit the brain’s buttons for change, YOU become both the solution and the strategy.

Her mission is to end talented, hard-working, and self-aware leaders spending another day stuck in self-doubt or confusion and not contributing their brilliant work and talent the world so desperately needs.

The Post-Pandemic Summer of Healing and Alignment

You can listen to the full podcast episode here:

You have checked all the boxes in life. You’ve worked hard to get a solid education, you secured the high-paying corporate work, and you have put the time and work in to provide for your family. Everything is going as planned. You know you are blessed. Yet, you still don’t feel truly happy and fulfilled. Something is off, and you begin to question it all. You’re starting to realize that the traditional view of success doesn’t always equal happiness. It’s confusing to say the least. So what gives?

This past year, and beyond, has taken a toll on everyone. For many people, it has left them reflecting on their life and where their current trajectory is taking them. As we begin to transition out of this pandemic, healing is in our future. If you’re feeling off path, now is the time to get to the root of the problem. Today I’m sharing the foundation you need in order to be able to do the work that gives to yourself and others – the work that really lights you up. This conversation will help you to take the steps towards straightening out what is not aligned.