If we believed everything we saw on social media, or anywhere for that matter, it would appear that everyone is making millions in their work, life is rosy and happy all of the time and every diet solution works…and it’s easy! I don’t believe everything I read. In my years I have learned discernment, but I do notice, from time to time, I compare myself to others in my work and say ‘shit why are they there…and I am here?’ And then I realized others might do the same for me… and then I laughed at myself… out loud actually…I find myself incredibly amusing…I have to …I spent a lot of time alone!

When the laughter subsided… I do what I normally do and I looked ‘behind the curtain’ of my story I’m always curious to see where it comes from…

January is the time of year many of us look to renewal, re-alignment, re-calibration all those things. New Year, new life, new me! I do feel a sense of renewal in January but for me my new year really is September. That to me always feels like a fresh start, summer is over, kids back at school, my corporate year end…so that is when I really set goals in intentions for my year… this year feels different for me, for some reason.

I have been working on the idea of Being Massively Human™ and what is Massively Human Leadership™ for months, letting it sit and settle and just allowing its emergence. You can’t tug at a carrot and make it grow faster than its nature, but what you can do is nurture the soil and produce a better carrot…so I decided to let it go and nurture the soil.

I researched things like ‘how to launch a brand’, I thought about going to a media boot camp, I considered investing in a branding agency or who I could hire to make this happen; nothing ‘felt’ right so I did what I have a tendency to do…I let it settle and wait for insight as to what to do with it.

Finally, it came… I did hire someone, my son…Karson. He will be working for me full time. We are navigating our way through what this could look like. He has a degree in Neuroscience…smart kid and no experience in training, no background in finance, no social media experience…as a matter of fact, I am certain he is the only Millennial on the planet that doesn’t have a Facebook page!

Why would I hire him…one might ask? The logical conclusion is because he is my son… however, if we un-pack the logic of that; it would make no sense for me to hire him… hiring Karson was an intuitive calling to what is next for me, my business, my legacy…and it so reflects how I do my life.

I have a thriving consulting practice, a solid Leadership program, I have an amazing business partner Sandi Stuart in one project, we co-created the most kick ass women’s retreat called Good Food, Good Wine, Good Sex…Good Bye, I am a consultant with, the one and only, Jack Canfield and Patty Aubery. I am their #1 person leading the ongoing development of their world-class Train the Trainer program, I share his stage with Mr. Canfield often. I am also a Business Partner with The Barrett Values Centre, certifying others to use the BVC tools for coaching and organizational transformation.

I share that not to brag, at least I don’t think that is the reason, rather, to shine a light on the dissonance between what logic would have me do and what intuition led me to do.

One would suggest I am primed for ‘the big game’ so to speak. So why hire a Junior player? Because he is my son? Nope! Here’s why his character AND I trust him…… trust so powerful.

I trust Karson totally. He works hard, he is kind, he is eager to learn, he has the ability to manage the complexity of me being his mom and his boss. When things are sticky, and sometimes they do, he has the courage to talk to me about what is troubling him. However, the most important quality or piece of his character that called me to bring him on is how he is a brother and a husband.

He has been with his wife for 10 years (he’s only 25 folks). Erin Seeley is such an amazing woman, perfect for him, for our family. I have watched them jointly navigate high school, University degrees, an insane rescue Pitbull, emotional upheaval, divorce (mine), finances, introversion and extroversion, and through it all they really just love AND like each other…

They also, without hesitation, took my middle child, his younger brother, to live with them when Reid spiraled into major drug abuse. For 10 months, they parented my sweet Reid, they got him clean, focused, graduated high school and back into dance. He (Reid) re-focused, re-energized, radiated a self-confidence… a radiance I have not seen in a couple of years. He won multiple dance competitions and started writing music. Because they provided a stable home, consistent support and commitment to just ‘be there’ Reid found himself again… although that story continues with relapse and refocus…I watched Karson and Erin do math homework, take Reid to the doctor and all kind of life things. All of this in their first year of marriage… who does that?

That is why I hired him…Character and trust. He can learn social media, figure out how a balance sheet works (I’m 53 and still have no idea how it works), and all the other stuff…the key here is trust.

There is a point to my sharing this…and here it is. I have been told… ‘if you go with a pro you will launch faster, make big money faster, you need to be on TV, write a book… all designed to get more recognition at a fast ‘er’ pace’.

All of this made sense and sounded so tempting right? Feeding my ego… and yet my intuition said ‘Kathleen…faster than who?… the last I looked I wasn’t signed up to a competition… I’ve always just kind run a little left of normal… I let all of those temptations tease me and eventually let them go… and settled in to what felt right…

This feels right HOLY SH%#$…the feedback the messages the emails the synergy…

I’ve attracted people I wanted to get to know and connect with … this is amazing and all in ‘my right timing’…not comparing to anyone else’s journey…that for me is the key here.

It’s not a race… I try to do a little better each day, with a little thing or a big thing… I’ve settled in to being Massively Human™… with all my jiggly bits, crazy self-talk and my best friend … my intuition!

So my questions for you:

• Do you follow your intuition? What has/might this bring you?
• Do you trust yourself enough to live in ambiguity or are you the kind of person who goes to the last chapter of the book to see how the story ends?
• Do you allow for emergence?