Creating Habits to Inspire Growth
There are days I’m easily distracted. I know I need to do some writing as I’ve again fallen slightly behind my self-imposed goals, but the simple act of placing my fingers on the keys and allowing my mind to take them where it will is an act of will I’m strangely unable to enact. But the time comes when I must place my mind where it matters. In this case, on the task at hand, and the healthy habits I’ve created.
Most days, it doesn’t matter whether I place my focus on writing, reading, or researching. However, when I allow my blog queues to fall below the standards I’ve set, the choice is clear. Writing must come before all else, save my daily routines.
In the last year, I’ve set more healthy habits than I have in any previous year while finding myself with more time on my hands than usual. Health-wise, gym visits have been replaced by Zoom ballet classes. Twice-weekly line dancing has been replaced by a single night, again via Zoom.
Reducing time spent running errands from weekly to monthly has freed up time for more productive pursuits, not to mention the money I save! Removing travel time from my workout routine has freed up even more. More time means finding ways to fill it which will not only improve my life, but give me more focus and visibility for my business.
Healthy Habits Are Hidden Gems
Those new habits have done so much more than the obvious. They’ve helped me stay 
connected to people while spending the bulk of my time alone in my house or yard. They’ve kept my spirits lifted as I strive to uplift others. And they’ve gotten me past some incredibly tough times in a healthier manner than I’ve experienced in the past.
Part of staying sane in these crazy, abnormal times is the healthy habits you form, and connection is the other half of the equation. Yet it’s so much more. Sharing the good times; the successes; the triumphs is easy. What’s not so easy is showing the times when you’re struggling, or feeling overwhelmed, or in pain. Showing vulnerability goes against everything I was taught from the cradle until the time each of my parents chose to end the pain they’d stuffed down inside themselves, and taught me to do as well.
In all the years I spent in school, studying, writing papers, researching, taking tests—book learning only took me so far. Until I learned the most profound, life-changing lesson of all, I wandered through life in a fog. Learning to not only feel my emotions, but to let them show opened my world like no amount of standard education ever could.
Books teach you facts and figures. They teach you what others did, learned, or experienced. They don’t teach you to connect with others, or to live life with vulnerability, authenticity, or complete, child-like abandon. Even the plethora of self-help books on the market are only words on a page until you allow yourself to create experiences for yourself; to come out of the self-imposed prison where feelings are buried; where stoicism and survival are considered honorable qualities.
Change is to be Embraced, Not Feared
Living in a state of fear where showing the slightest crack in a meticulously crafted facade is considered as dangerous as walking alone through the worst part of town at night is a lonely, miserable existence at best. At worst, it’s a slow slide down into depression, insanity, and a litany of poor life choices. My family has a long history of all three. I had to make a conscious choice to alter my own trajectory, and in so doing, that of those who come after.
Hiding my true self created a seemingly insurmountable roadblock to my desire to attract rather than chase clients. Until I learned to allow others to relate to the real, imperfect, bruised and battered me, I had no hope of attracting anyone who related to the real me. Instead, I attracted a lot of bruised, broken, battered, unauthentic people who, like me, were hiding behind a facade. The chance of building a strong, sustainable, mutually beneficial business relationship was slim to none, and slim had left the building.
I couldn’t, with any conviction tell people “I write from your heart” until I proved by example I could write from my own. Instead, I’d be like so many others who try over and over to change their message so they’ll attract clients, only to fail because the message fails to reflect their authentic selves. It’s the scariest thing you’ll ever do—and the most rewarding.
Building a Business One Relationship at a Time
Granted, many business owners still believe it’s a numbers game and act accordingly. The sheer 
number of cold emails I receive is a testament to the fact the process is alive and well. The number of times I’ve been asked to connect on LinkedIn, only to receive a mile-long sales pitch the moment I click “accept” is proof many still believe they have to send out x number of emails, or make so many phone calls to make a single sale.
If you ask me, the process is exhausting, not to mention offensive. Is it any wonder many still believe they need to work harder, not smarter? Sure, building relationships takes longer, especially if you’ve spent years isolating from the world. You have to unlearn a lot of things before your efforts begin bearing fruit.
The fruit they bear, however, will be sweeter, and will enrich your life. Clients will thrive from your efforts, and you, from theirs. There will be mutual satisfaction in every success; every milestone reached. Best of all, you’ll build a network where everyone supports each other with business, with referrals, and with encouragement.
Choose Your Best Path
It may not be the course for everyone, but after living in a virtual cave for decades, it’s the kind of life I choose to live, and habits I wish to form. I want to be part of a mutually beneficial community which grows and thrives by working together. I’ve seen what it’s like to stand alone, and like the many paths my parents took, it’s not one I wish to traverse.
Whatever path you choose, may it be one that fulfills you on all levels, and most of all, allows you to be your truest, most authentic self without masks, walls, or pretenses. Take it from me. Keeping all the protections in place is exhausting, and leaves no room to enjoy life, or love what you do at all times, be it work, play, rest, or simply being.
About the Author
Sheri Conaway is a Holistic Ghostwriter, and an advocate for cats and mental health. Sheri 
believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful and help entrepreneurs touch the souls of their readers and clients so they can increase their impact and their income.
If you’d like to have her write for you, please visit her Hire Me page for more information. You can also find her on Facebook Sheri Levenstein-Conaway Author.
Be sure to watch this space for news of the upcoming releases of ” Rebuilding After Suicide” and “Sasha’s Journey”.
