About three months ago, something kind of amazing happened. It was a breakthrough, really.
For three months, I’ve thought about that moment just about every day, and just about every day, I find new meaning in it.
For three months, I’ve also thought about telling you the story of that breakthrough but could never decide on how. Thinking led to pressure, and pressure led to more thinking. But none of it brought me clarity, only resistance.
It was only by giving myself permission to put it away that I was finally open to the clarity I’d been seeking all along.
I found that clarity in you.
After every post, so many people in our community reply with their own stories. Over the last week, this is what heard: We’re feeling lost, misunderstood, even hopeless, and something, anything needs to change.
We’re ready for a breakthrough.
This got me thinking about how breakthroughs even happen: gradually.
Breakthroughs happen in little steps and shifts.
About three months ago, I lost myself in one of those days that pull the floor out from under you and make you wonder – what am I even doing? It was the kind of day that makes it seem like everyone else has it all figured out and there you are, flailing around in the corner. All alone.
I thought to myself, if there is any guidance out there waiting for me, this would be the day to receive it.
I said in a moment of desperate surrender, “All right universe, this is officially me asking for guidance. I need a sign or something. Anything.”
I was surprised at how much lighter I felt then. With that one small step, a shift had already begun.
From that lighter place, I declared that a pink car would be my sign. Sign of what exactly, I didn’t even know. Just a sign that there was something on the other side of this.
I had a good laugh at myself because I couldn’t remember the last time I saw a pink car, but it brought me a sense of peace to think about it. Again, a shift.
I’d almost forgotten about the whole thing when, hours later in the car, a bright pink pick-up passed through the intersection ahead of me, and at that very moment, waiting at a stoplight across the street, sat an unmistakably pink car.
I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Okay, message received.
I smiled the whole way home.
Later that afternoon, I took my sons out in the double jogger to process what was happening. I wasn’t exactly sure what, but something was happening.
We hadn’t passed a single person out there until, as we approached a bridge, a bell rang behind me and a woman asked if I needed help up the hill. Without even looking, I smiled and said, “No, thanks. I’m good. This is good work.”
When she passed me, I saw head to toe, wheel to wheel pink. Pink shoes, pink helmet, pink everything.
I didn’t just laugh then, I cried.
Yes, something did happen that day, and it’s still happening.
Every day since then, I think about our brief interaction.
Do you need help up the hill?
No, thanks. I’m good. This is good work.
Yes. The hills are good work.
That was a major breakthrough for me, and even though not much has changed externally, everything has shifted. Life feels lighter.
And I have to tell you, pink cars and bikes are everywhere. Each time I see one, I smile and about the breakthrough that’s happening right now.
Maybe this is how breakthroughs really happen. Like climbing a hill.
They don’t happen in one dramatic swoop, but little by little, step by step, shift by shift until suddenly, all the little pieces add up to something big and unmistakable. And then you’re coasting.
The uphill battle is just as much a part of the breakthrough as the crest and the coasting.
This is how breakthroughs happen.
So, if you’re in the part of a breakthrough where you need something, anything to change, make a small shift from an open place.
If you need help up the hill, ask, but remember that the hills are often good work.
If you don’t know where to begin, begin anywhere. Again, with openness.
If you’re in the part where nothing’s happening, ask yourself with compassionate honesty if you’ve put too much pressure on a specific outcome. Then, look for the evidence that something, anything is happening. (Because it probably is.)
If the pressure to make an epic change has brought only resistance, let there be ease. Leave it alone for a bit while you get yourself into the right mindset to receive what you’re seeking.
And if you’re in the part where you just want to give up, take a mindful break if you need to. Pivot if you’re called to. And keep going, ever so gently.
The top of the hill might just be closer than you think.
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