Let’s all channel ABBA’s song made famous by the romantic comedy Mamma Mia, alright?
“Baby, I’m still free…take a chance on me. Gonna do my very best, and it ain’t no lie.”
Okay, let’s get real. We have given second chances—to friends, to lovers, to the undeserving, to family members. And, we have needed second chances, in countless situations and in numerous ways.
Let’s shift our perspective for a moment. What are the benefits of second chances? Oh, the benefits abound and especially when you are working on yourself. It’s an opportunity to try again and again and as many times as you want…after not succeeding. Your potential is limitless.
How and why are second chances important on our self-care and self-love journey? Well, it allows us to achieve our potential. Right? The word fail is just an acronym for First Attempt In Learning. Another opportunity always provides us with an option and sometimes the support to succeed.
So, here we are and it’s the second half of the year. Now is our second chance. Oh, how glorious to have the opportunity to reflect on the first half of the year and get intentional about the second half of the year.
Listen, it’s important to carve out time to reflect. Why? It’s information that catapults us forward. Look back at the good, the bad, the ugly. The small wins, the big wins, and the milestones especially. This year I celebrated my grandma’s 90th birthday, a wise guy’s 80th birthday, and my bonus daughter’s college graduation. More than that, my manifestation powers led me in a whole new direction. I’m 42; I’m building a new house and I have a new job.
Grab a pen and paper. Offer yourself the second chance to get energized and begin anew.
Are you thinking about the rest of July? How about August, September, October, November, December? Think about that time by using your noggin and by taking a look at your calendar. And consider—is time a construct, is it a concept, is it an illusion? Go and talk about that at the dinner table. It’s bound to be quite the conversation.
Back to the inner work.
Approach the rest of the calendar year from the lens of self-care and self-love? Let’s focus on you because the way you care for and love yourself dictates the way you show up for yourself, family, friends, community and the world in which we live, and let us be rea…we’ve had heavy moments (in our lives and in the world)—beyond what we thought would even happen in our lifetime.
Believe you are the creator of your life; make conscious choices. Maybe consider yourself the co-creator so that you put your trust in the universe and work to co-create a life you love and a life to live. There is certainly more than we have control over (ugh), yet let me guide you in the way you can make loving choices and take loving actions.
First, put on “Forever Young” (any version you want, either Rod Stewart or Jay-Z or Alphaville). My guy and I (both over 40) like the first, the teen likes Jay-Z, and the 20-something-year old likes the version featured in Napoleon Dynamite.
Now, see your life in front of you as if it were a movie playing out in front of you over the course of the remainder of the year. You are an observer. Observe. What’s going on? You are growing and expanding, and you are the future you—6 months from now. How are you showing up? What are you doing and thinking? In what ways are you excited about what’s going to happen? Allow yourself to embody this future you, this favorite you energy.
Next, think about being in the energy of late December 2022. What happened these past six months? How did they play out? Consider connections you’ve made, challenges you’ve encountered, changes you have precipitated, people and things you have released, times you have surprised yourself. Consider it all.
Why consider it all? Life is mysterious and miraculous and conspiring for the greater good in your life. Good, good, or even better. Believe it. Be open to it. It is yours.
