Email was destroying my creativity. The pressure to read, respond, decide whether to keep or delete… it was killing me! I’d wake up in the morning already overwhelmed with yesterday’s unanswered emails, anticipating today’s emails, and dreading tomorrow’s emails.
Then, as a business owner, I had the pressure to MESSAGE MY LIST!!! It used to be “engagement” and “trust building”, now it was about hammering away relentlessly! Email marketing has turned into this endurance test, a duel to see who’ll be the last squeaky wheel standing.
*This is not a healthy way to live!*
Yep, annoyed. Me. Totally. I’m owning that.
I finally said “Forget it.” Truthfully, I said another word that started with an “F”, and would surely disappoint my late mother if she knew I was publicly using it. Ahem.
My solution was to lay low. I didn’t want to get caught up in finding my space in a space that was driving me crazy. It would be like rearranging the furniture in a jail cell… just didn’t make any sense.
So I hid out, kept emails to a minimum, and allowed myself to explore things other than obsessing on my emails!
It wasn’t easy, but it did allow me the space to engage in something that means the world to me: BUBBLE UP.
BUBBLE UP is my life force. It’s God working in my life, the complete reassurance that the Universe sets itself back into order when things feel chaotic.
What is Bubble Up? Well, in a nutshell it’s a creative release process I use. You’ll love the ending, leaving with a big “aha” and the world all makes sense. You just need patience and faith during the process… and you can’t quit until you catch some bubbles!
You Too Can Bubble Up
It’s a fun process that you can adapt to your own creative goals. Maybe you want to figure out something for your business. Maybe you want to dial in an offer. Maybe you want to write a book. Maybe you want to make more money. Let’s have a go at it and see what bubbles up for you.
1. Affirm that this process won’t kill you
This is important! People, if you don’t step into this with faith it’s not going to work. You’re not going to get stung, be made a fool of, or die. You’re opening up a creative Pandora’s box… but it’ll tidy itself up. I promise.
2. Brainstorm
This is the fun part. You pull out all the pieces of the problem that are driving you crazy. Here’s an example. My client, Toni, was going nuts trying to figure out what to lead with in her business. She had 2 things she was great at and was really confused which one she should make her name with.
One made perfect sense on paper… but it wasn’t her passion. She was good at it, but she wasn’t passionate.
The other made perfect sense in her heart… but it wasn’t making any money.
We started brainstorming about things that define who she is because ultimately, her problem was around identity in her business. We explored her values. Her strengths. Her passion. The list got long. This primed her for the next part.
3. Let Frustration Happen
“Argh! Why can’t I just figure this out!” she exclaimed.
I talked her off the ledge and had her stick with me. “The frustration is awesome.”, I told her. “That means you’re ready to stop using your head to get through this.”
As soon as she did the next step, things started to happen.
4. Surrender
Steps 1-3 get you to the meat of the matter: Surrender.
The problem most people have with solving problems is they try to solve the problem from the place of the problem! Surrender means giving up your rational mind’s control over the situation. It’s letting things go, relinquishing control, and allowing a divine process to emerge. Yes, my friends, God takes control. (And you really thought it was YOU the whole time?)
This is the power of Bubble Up. You swim around in the muck until your arms are tired, then you give up and say “I can’t do this!” You stop struggling, stop fighting, and trust. Next thing you know, you’ve loosened your grip.
Toni gave up trying to figure things out. She has a degree from one of those fancy pants colleges so she’s used to finding solutions. Yet she couldn’t here… and it allowed the next step to happen.
5. Catch Bubbles
As soon as you reach this point of surrender and not knowing, it’s bubble catching time! So here’s Toni, a pile of used tissues next to her because she was just so DONE with the agony of not knowing what to lead with, and it started to happen.
I asked her the same questions I’d asked her a few minutes earlier. I had no agenda in what she chose, just support for her to find what meant the most to her.
“If this were your last day on earth, would you choose this as your life’s work?”
One choice- the sensible on paper choice- got a resounding NO.
The other got an enthusiastic YES.
And more bubbles began to emerge. She connected dots she couldn’t see before.
“Well, actually it’s not an either/or! Look at this… I can lead with the thing I’m passionate about, and incorporate the ‘sensible’ thing into it… without giving up either! Oh this is what I’ve spent YEARS trying to get clear on!!”
Years.
Years of struggle and turmoil. We solved it with a short amount of time in the muck, tired out her sensible side and then she took off with it.
Toni was on fire. She had something to say. She knew why she wanted to say it. She knew who her message was for.
Problem solved.
Creativity on fire.
Enthusiasm for her work ran off the charts.
This release works. Not only did it solve Toni’s “Who am I?” problem, but it gave me a solution too.
My email problem was the thing needed to take me to frustration. Throwing my hands up in the air, I gave up. When I gave up, I suddenly started getting ideas for backlogged projects I’d almost given up on. A book outline popped into my brain. The same book outline I had been torturing myself to create for the past year. I feel like badassery in action!
The outline led to a revised message for my own work… do you see how this stuff goes much deeper than “how to” tips? Did you see how I mentioned G-O-D? I’d never do that before… it was in my mind, but I convinced myself not to share those things publicly. This led to new ways to talk to my present and future clients about the power of their inner genius. How it’s divine and their perfect work. It led to this blog post after months of letting my blog lay fallow.
My release, Toni’s release, and the releases that my clients experience clears confusion out of the way. You know which way to go and can then take passionate action. That’s as good as gold, especially when you’re tired of being stuck in the muck.
So go on… Bubble away 🙂
And to find out about doing the work with me, just drop me a line.
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