believing is key and then doing the work
“success is a joy. failure is a penance and an exercise of faith – a higher joy… merely a postponed and greater success.”
servant of God, frank duff
Last week I learned that I didn’t progress to the next round of the OSV Challenge where I would have entered the Catholic Shark Tank of investors for my business. Nine Catholic businesses progressed out of 1300 applications submitted in January. Those businesses are amazing—but I wasn’t chosen quite yet.
I cried just a little. A bundle of emotions came over me in the instant that I was informed as I was face-to-face with Stephanie, who beautifully manages all the OSV challengers, as we are called.
The emotions were both disappointment and relief. Disappointment that I wouldn’t be pitching in front of that amazing audience of Catholic influencers, but relief that I could actually slow down for a minute and catch my breath.
I immediately accepted the response knowing that God was fully in charge of this outcome. I had tried my hardest and I was really okay with being booted off the train at this stop. I’m accustomed now to failing my way to success. I do it every day.
Often times we don’t want to go through the exhausting feelings of the journey. We don’t want to do the very hard work and disciplined actions to complete the tasks necessary to compete. To do this—we have to feel our negative emotions and deal with them. We have to get coached through our thoughts and lean in to shift them so that they serve our highest good.
This is all possible—it’s just hard.
And, I did that—holding God’s hand the whole way.
I feel exhilarated now. I’ve rested up a bit and I am coaching my clients hard. Because, I KNOW that to end up at the destination of thin, rich, and happy (whatever that is to you…), we will have to experience the difficult journey. And, I’m all in for that.
Keeping my weight off permanently through Spiritual Fasting teaches us how to do the hard things.
How to show up for ourselves.
How to believe harder than we strive.
How to lean on God at all times.
How to figure things out even though there is no path to be seen.
This is believing. In God. In myself. In the power of prayer. That anything is possible with God.
We’ve only just begun!