Your New Superpower
I heard this quote recently and had to stop my car, pull over and write it down. Of course, if Brene Brown says it you know it’s going to be gold, but it was also incredibly timely. The idea of being curious is a big concept we explore during coaching, whether life coaching or wellness coaching. As I’ve learned, they both are extremely similar in learning how to think, question and create new mindshifts. It is also something I’ve been talking through quite recently with my counselor. (Yes, you read that correctly. Full disclosure here!)
We are all born with this wonderful curiosity, and somehow, as we make our way through life, and into adulthood, that natural curiosity and sense of awe and questioning often gets water downed or completely lost among starting careers, buying diapers, filling out school permission slips, paying mortgages, making orthodontia appointments, paying taxes, you know, all those life things that seem to suck some of the time to wonder right up. And as we outgrow those times and come into new seasons, it is time to create some space to be curious about what is next. I am beginning to see the beauty in not giving up on our ingrained curiosity and how important it is to foster it more and more during our middle years and our second season of life.
This curiosity is something I am trying to master as my own superpower these days. I can feel a bit off when I don’t know what is around the next corner. I’ve learned that whatever expectations we have, if they aren’t exactly as we planned, and they rarely are, we have a choice to make. We can choose how we handle the unexpected, the changes and the things that come our way. Whatever new season of life we enter, there will be change. While I found myself in a season of external circumstances changing, I wrestled with some of the changes I was finding in myself internally. I hadn’t expected some of the things about myself - my likes, dislikes, habits, beliefs and dreams to become so drastically different.
Getting curious about all of this and in exploring new and different “hats”, thoughts, processes and developing a different sense of wonder, while also acknowledging that this is happening is huge (and can be a big help) for having the freedom to keep growing and moving forward.
Life events are all life changing. We cannot, and should not, stay the same. Think about where you were at the beginning of some of your biggest experiences. Maybe you know some of these -
Becoming someone’s spouse
Becoming a parent
Becoming who you are in your work or profession and/or changing jobs or careers
Becoming a caregiver to your own parents
Becoming a single parent
Experiencing loss
Becoming a grandparent
All the new chapters in life continue to mold you and provide new pieces of who you are inside, and it is a choice as to who you want to be and how you want to be, during life’s transitions.
It’s okay to not be the same person. We can love and acknowledge where we began and who we were.
It’s also okay to not know the answers or what’s next.
And if you have that second half, a new season or transition ahead, then you have a choice as to how you look at it and begin to take those new steps. It’s not always easy because, yes, it is new territory. It may seem like you got here without a plan or agenda. But you are here, in this life, right where you are. So, the way I see it, we can either chose to stick our heels in and stay stuck (which is not an option in my book), or we can start to get curious about what is around the next corner, what we want to be around the next corner, and about where it will lead us and what new thing, way of being or way of thinking we may create.
Perhaps some new thoughts and feelings are unexpected. I’m learning to not hold on too tightly and simply be curious about that, as well. I think this advice is one of the best tricks to moving forward through this Big thing called life. Asking questions, trying new things and experiences and using that almost forgotten curiosity can definitely be our new Super Power in this new season of life.
What are some of your questions? Keep asking and asking. . .
What are some things you now find curious? Keep noticing . . .