Highs, Lows, and Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone
GLORIA GRACE RAND: Namaste.
Ever have one of those weeks where you’re on, like, highs and lows? I mean, it’s like one day after another, just kind of a roller coaster of emotions.
Yeah. So I’ve been having. I’ve had one of those weeks, and there’s a theme that I. That I’ve discovered that is running all through it, and. And that’s what we’re going to explore today.
It’s about. It all comes down to stepping out of your comfort zone and I guess maybe even making lemonade out of lemons when life throws you some lemons. Because it’s been a crazy week. And I’m even going back to a week from, well, let’s say eight days ago when I. Excuse me.
Training for a 10K: The Slow Walk That Rattled Me
I was doing a long run for. Well, a long walk, speed walk for my 10k race that I’m doing actually next week. It’s finally almost here after. After months of preparation, and now it’s almost here.
So.
So last. Yeah, so a week ago, I was doing a long run and I was struggling, but. But I didn’t think I was struggling at first. And so I’ve been using an app on my phone from Jeff Galloway that. That tracks your mileage.
And when I got through the first mile, I was shocked that my pace was so slow because I seriously, I mean, it was like three minutes slower than what it normally is. And I couldn’t. I couldn’t understand it. I thought, there’s something wrong with the app, frankly, because, like, why is it taking me so long? And of course then when I finished was like.
Well, it really. The time was accurate because it took me a lot longer to finish than I had anticipated it was going to do. Now, of course, I was struggling through part of it because my toes were cramping and I was not having a good time. Um, but it. It really annoyed me.
And then I went out the next day and I did two miles. So it was like I did six miles first. I think it was six miles. Yeah. And then I did two miles the day after, and I was still slow.
Volunteering at a Networking Event: Out of My Comfort Zone
And of course, I was still kind of draggy because I had done all that the day before. So I had that going on. Then this past week, Tuesday and Wednesday, I was helping a friend out with a networking event that she was putting on it. On Tuesday evening, it was the VIP event. And then Wednesday was the whole day, like.
Yeah, basically. Well, from 10 to 10 to 4 was the. The networking event, but I had volunteered along with another. Another woman to be sort of the. The Volunteer chairs.
You know, we, we were in charge of doing the logistics, making sure we had all, everything organized decorations and when we were going to be able to go in and set up things and, and handling things like registration and all of these things. And I had done this with her actually three months earlier at the last event, but there was a lovely lady there who came and oversaw the decorations part of it, and she wasn’t going to be there this time. And so I said, well, sure, I can do it. I mean, I’ve done my own events, but I didn’t really have major decorations. Like, you know, we had balloon towers and we had, you know, flowers on all the tables and all of these wonderful things.
So I said, sure, I can, I can manage this. And so Tuesday we, we got in there and thankfully we had, we had tons of volunteers. So the, the work that it took us a long time to do the first time around back in three months ago, got done quick, more quicker, more quickly, whatever. It was much more efficient and it was wonderful to have that where we could actually even breathe a little bit before the actual event started in the evening. And then, so that was, that was Tuesday.
Setting Up the Ballroom When Everyone Asks “Where Do You Want This?”
And then we finished up at like, I didn’t get home until about 10:30 that night and I went pretty much straight to bed, although I hadn’t really eaten. So I grabbed a little some chicken salad that I bought on the way home in a grocery store and had some of that before I went to bed, then got up early because we had to be right back up there at seven o’ clock in the morning to now we had to set up this whole big ballroom and this is where I really was out of my comfort zone now because people kept coming up to me and going, okay, where do you want this? What do you want me to do now? What, how can I help? Which is wonderful.
I mean, it’s amazing and wonderful to have that many people available to help you out with something like this, you know, but at the same time it was almost, it was also challenging because I was like, what do I need help with? So I made notes along the way that day because the next time around when this happens, I want to be better prepared. But it all turned out, oh, and I forgot to tell you one thing. But anyway, the, the room wound up looking beautiful. You know, I, I, I helped out, we had volunteers were helping out.
Everything was great.
Unexpected Grief and a Reminder to Reach Out
Before I left for home to come to that event that morning, you know, as we all do, we log on to social media and we check things out And I was just. I. I like to do a Facebook post in the morning, and so I did that. But then I saw something that caught my eye, and it was a notice that a lovely woman who I had worked with, she was basically coaching me and a bunch of other people in her cohort about how to use LinkedIn. And I also had had her as a guest on my podcast. I’d had her on a guest on the other live streaming show that I host called let’s Talk Fabulous.
But she had. She’s had health problems for years, and they got really exacerbated during COVID with. She was using oxygen to breathe with. Anyway, I learned that she had passed, and it just caught me off guard because I hadn’t talked to her in a while. Mental note, if there’s someone in your life that you haven’t talked to in a while, reach out to them.
Don’t let them. You know, you take the first step into it because you never know. Things happen, and you may not ever get a chance to talk to them again. So. So I had that a little bit weighing on me even as we were getting through all the decorations and, you know, and set up the room.
When Networking Feels Hard: Crying in the Restroom
Everything’s great. So this was a networking room. Networking event, right? And so part of this networking event, how my friend Shannon does this, is that she. We have three different sessions of masterminding, three rounds of masterminding.
And so you. You rotate from table to table to do this.
And the first round, I was fine, and then we had lunch. And then the second round, I’m not sure what happened, but I was. Well, I know what happened. I was seated with some lovely people. I knew, actually three of them, and one person was a new person, but I didn’t.
I didn’t really feel like our business is connected and that, you know, because my. My whole thing is that I love serving and supporting women over 50. That’s why I do this podcast, right? Women entrepreneurs over 50. And so the people here, well, they were wonderful people.
I didn’t. I started feeling like, oh, this is a mistake. And when it comes time to me to do my elevator pitch, I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to do it.
So you know what I did? I got up and I went to the restroom, and I cried and I cried and I cried and I cried.
Then I finally pulled myself together. It’s like, come on, come on, come on, come on. You can’t do this. You can’t just Hide all afternoon. You got to get back in there.
Pausing for a moment because I realize I’ve been talking a mile a minute. I do that sometimes.
Going Back to the Table and Choosing Vulnerability
So gathered myself up, you know, pattern patted the tears away. And even though I knew my. My nose was probably red, red like a, you know, a clown. But it’s like, oh, well, what are you gonna do? So I came back to the table and they’re like, oh, you know, hope you don’t mind.
We took your time and, you know, went. And it’s like, oh, yeah, that’s fine. That’s fine. But then finally we came back around again and was like, my time. And I started like, I’m like, I just.
I just. I just can’t do this today. I’m sorry. And I just. I just.
I don’t want to do, you know, ah. I don’t want to do it. And what was so wonderful is that.
By being vulnerable and just, you know, that because they could tell. They knew something was wrong. They could tell. But I, you know, I just said, you know, yeah, I just don’t feel up to this today. I’ve got stuff going on.
It’s been, you know, I’ve been managing the setting up of this event. I’m a little frazzled. And. And the. The gentleman next to me started telling everyone about how I have been actually volunteering with this.
With this group for a couple of years now and. And saying how, you know, he loves when he comes to the door and I’m always there, you know, checking people in. I got a smile on my face and. And he was just, you know, saying very, very lovely things, you know, that really made me feel good. And then this other gentleman, you know, is telling me about, so their event that I’m, you know, they’re having and, you know, that I might be, you know, know, good to go to.
And I calmed down and I felt. I felt better. You know, still wasn’t 100%, but I felt better. And it was really, really sweet having that. And then we changed, you know, we changed, did another round and.
Healing by Helping Others
And this time I was at a table with people I knew and love women, you know, especially that. Where were we’re kind of things. But we come at it from a different angle. And. And so it was lovely.
And again, you know, it was kind of, you know, and this one woman, she practices Ho’oponopono. And she, you know, helped me out. She put a little message on my phone. You know, it’s like whenever you’re feeling this way again, Gloria, you know, Read it. Read it.
Or Grace as I’m. I’ll get back to that in a minute. Why I have. If for those of you watching, you’ll see that I just put up Grace today as my name.
Come back to that later. Anyway, It was, it was good. So by the time we got done with that round, I really was feeling good because I. And now I was able to actually help others. I was able to communicate because another lesson I’ve learned over the years of when you are in your own stuff and when you are feeling one good way to get out of it is to help somebody else.
And so I had been helped enough to have calmed down that now I was able to be supportive of the other people at, at the table. And again that continued that healing that I was going to be okay. So after that, you know, we wrapped up the. Wrapped up the, the event, got everything put away, got home Wednesday night exhausted and oh, I forgot to mention that Tuesday morning I did two miles. Thursday morning I did two miles.
Self-Care and My Best Training Times All Year
So, so before the event and then after. And remember how bad my run, my walking was over that weekend? Tuesday and Thursday had some of my best times all year now or all year of this training where I was faster than I was last week and it was like, what the heck happened? I don’t know. But yay.
Suddenly I think, because I sort of Tuesday, I’m not quite sure why that was, but I think, I don’t know if it was cooler weather, I’m not sure. But then Thursday, you know, still should have been exhausted, but I had enough energy and I got out there, So that was wonderful. And then Friday I practiced some self care on myself. Oh, I know what I did Sunday when I had that awful run, I went to, I got a massage that night. She worked out a lot of the kinks.
That’s why I was able to do so well on Tuesday. Now I remember. Yeah. So self care, you know, sometimes you actually have to go have someone lay some hands on you. But Friday morning, or it might have even been Thursday morning too, I don’t remember now, but I did, I did a lot of light language.
What Is Light Language? Connecting With Your Higher Self
And for those of you, hopefully you are subscriber of the show, you’ve heard me talk about light language in the past and, and I will share some with you before this episode is over today. But it’s, it’s a, it’s a method of really connecting with your higher self, with, with the creator, with source energy, with. And source energy and how, however it shows up in the world, whether it’s angels, whether it’s galactic beings, whether it’s the elementals, you know, the fairies and things like that. If you Google light language, you’ll see there’s lots of people out there that do it. And some of them do say specifically that they’re channeling that type of energy.
I just, when I have, when I open it up, I always ask for this is what I say. I’ll say angels, archangels, galactic, being elementals. I invite you to share with me whatever message you feel will be helpful for me right now that will be good for my soul and the soul of all concern. Help me to release what doesn’t I don’t need to hold on to anymore and to receive what will help me. And so I did a long meditation.
I think it was Friday morning and then I think it was Thursday actually. Yeah, sorry. This really doesn’t matter to you, does it? I know, I apologize. Anyway, whatever day it was, I think it was Thursday because I needed that rest.
So I did like a whole hour meditation. I listened to like a shamanic recording and then I did that light language.
Grace, Light Bearer: Embracing My Middle Name
And what was interesting, it really was really uplifting for me. And I also got this message that, you know, my middle name is Grace. My mother named me Gloria Grace because she liked to say I was her gift from God. I was the third of three kids and there was a 10 year span between me and my older sister. So I was the also the boost, my mother liked to say.
But I had been. I’ve been striving to really lean into calling myself Grace because it felt like, it feels like Grace really is the name I want to embody right now. Gloria has served me well for well over 60 years now. But there’s just something about grace that I just really want, I feel I want to embody that. I’ve been called to embody that grace that God has given me.
And so what was coming through for me was Grace light bearer. And I don’t know if this is some new persona I might tell the world about. Okay, I’m telling you about. I feel it’s really more about me. It’s about me just remembering that that is, that is who I am.
I am Grace, a light bearer. I’m here to bring the light to help. Not just to bring the light, but really to be a conduit of the lights, a reflection of the light that’s already in you and then be able to help you see that light. Because sometimes, like I was having trouble doing this week, I was Having trouble seeing my own.
And thankfully I had people around me who were able to help me and they were able to reflect their own inner light back to me and help me to see it again. So now that’s, you know, because let’s face it, there’s going to be days where I’m going to have this same stuff will probably come up again. In fact, not probably, it will come up again because I am human in addition to being divine, as are you. And you know, no matter how old you are and in fact the older you get, there’s just more stuff. More stuff happens, you know, whether it’s internal, whether it’s external, but stuff happens and then we have to figure out how we want to deal with it.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
And you. And I would say my. One of the main lessons, I still have some more to share with you, but I would say one of the, the main lesson I got especially from earlier this week was that we, we’re not in this alone and we don’t have to stay alone.
Source Creator sends us people, sends us help to help us, sends us help to help us when we are feeling low, when we are feeling frightened, when we are feeling stuck, when we are anxious. Sure, you can do some work yourself. You can pray, you can meditate, you can journal, you can do light language. All these wonderful practices are good and they will help. And often we also need help from someone else, one on one or maybe a group.
There’s. You just, you just don’t have to do this stuff alone. You really don’t. And, and, and I think that’s also because we are as human beings, we are social creatures and so we do. We, we need to be around people because again, as I, as I just said, I believe God is in everyone.
You know, we are all human and divine. Even the people that piss you off, even the people that are annoying, even the people who do terrible things in the world, people who commit crimes, they are still a part of them is still pure and perfect and divine, even though they’re really leaning into their human side.
Still Shy After All These Years: A Choir Birthday Dinner
Okay, one, one more story, One more story I want to share because again, it, it, it really follows in of this stepping out of your comfort zone and yeah, it’s been a fun week. It really has. It. It really has. I mean, I can, I can smile about it now, but it’s been a fun week.
So Friday night I was, I’m, I’m. I’ve. I’ve been singing in a choir at a unity church for the past couple of months and, and One of the. One of the sweetest ladies in that group. It’s her birthday this month, and so the choir will do is.
I guess when there’s. When there are birthdays in the choir, they go out to dinner to celebrate. So we’re going to Olive Garden on Friday night to celebrate Marilyn’s birthday. And also this other. Another lovely lady’s birthday.
And so it. I get there, and there’s. I got there, like, right on time, but obviously people got there early, so I was.
There we go. So I. I got there. You know what, Ostensibly, I thought was on time, but there were already people there, so. So the. The guest of honor, Marilyn, kind of shooed me off to sit at this end of the table, even though there were people that I really knew a lot more that I’ve already connected with.
We’re sitting on the left side of the table, but she put me down to the right side of the table. And so I sat down, actually next to a gentleman in the choir, across from another gentleman who I didn’t know. And then another woman came in who I knew a little bit, who’s in the choir. She sat next to me. And then.
And then somebody I knew came, who I really know well, one of my good friends, but she went and sat at the other end of the table, and then somebody else came in, was like, now they sat at the other end of the table. So I’m like, oh, gosh. Oh, no. Now I am. I’ve learned through being in business to be.
To again, step out of my comfort zone and be able to have. And be able to talk and converse with people. And still in certain social situations where I don’t know people very well. I’m still shy. I’m still shy.
And so I started feeling really uncomfortable, you know, that another lady came in and sat like, kitty corner for me. And I knew her a little. I’d seen her in church before, but I didn’t really. Had never really had a conversation with her before. And so after we placed our orders, I kind of excused myself and went to the restroom.
A Restroom Pep Talk: Committing to Step Out of My Comfort Zone
So I’m sitting in the restroom now. This time I’m not crying, but this time I’m like, okay, come on, come on, come on. What are we gonna do here? We’ve got to get ourselves together because we’re going to be having dinner with these people. You’re going to be here for a couple hours.
Pull yourself together, and just commit to stepping out of your comfort zone and talk to people.
And that’s what I did. I Went back to the table, sat down and struck up conversations. And luckily the one lady across from me, she loved to talk a lot. So she carried out a lot of the conversation that I didn’t need to do. But every once in a while I was able to chime in and ask a question and I got to know the lady next to me a little bit more who’s in our, in the choir.
And, and she was, she was a lovely lady. And so I feel better getting to know her more now.
And, and so I wound up having an enjoyable couple of hours of dinner.
“Come On, Girl”: Talking Yourself Into Courage
So my, my, my takeaway from that is that sometimes you got to get yourself in hand and say, come on, girl, get it together. You can do this, even if you have to talk yourself into it. But when, when you can do that, you’ve just, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s. I know it’s not easy. Believe me, I know it’s not easy.
But it pays dividends when you can step out of your comfort zone. So let’s, let’s bring this back into a business context, shall we? And that was, that was. Never mind. I was gonna say something, but.
Yeah, forget. Maybe I’ll cut this part out anyway. So when you’re running a business.
Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone in Your Business
Yes, Especially if you’re, let’s say you’re a service provider like I am, you know, you’re a coach, you’re a healer, you’re a consultant, Odds are you, you may be the only person in your business, but you may also, you know, have a couple people, maybe virtual assistants who help you out. And if you don’t, then it might be time to hire one or two. Because if you find that you are doing everything in your business by yourself, and if it’s getting to be very tiring, or you find that you’re, maybe you’re cranky at times more than you might be warranted by the situation, or perhaps you’re working on the weekends more than you’d like to be. Or maybe you are, You’re just, you’re, you’re finding that you’re spending more time on marketing than you are on actually working with clients.
That’s a good clue that it might be time to bring somebody else into the business to help you, even on just a part time basis.
Follow-Up and Outreach: Reach Out and Touch Someone
Or perhaps you’ve, again, you’ve got help, but maybe you have just been, maybe following up is your Achilles heel and you don’t do enough of it. Well, I know that it’s. Sometimes it’s hard to even reach out with an email. And I think I talked about that recently on an episode that, you know, sometimes it’s scary to have to send that email as almost like a cold email. Maybe not cold, ice cold, but maybe semi cold.
But just reach out to people that, you know, could benefit from what you have to offer but don’t feel that you have to sell them. Not. Certainly not right away. Just reach out to say, hi. Oh my gosh.
I just thought of, oh, wow. Yeah, I’m showing my age because I just flashed on. There used to be an old television commercial about reach out and touch someone. And it was from AT&T. About long distance service.
Yes. In the old days, folks, long distance was expensive. My mother used to say, you know, don’t talk on the phone long because we can’t afford it. And now, thanks to our lovely smartphone plans that we have, we could talk to anybody in the world for one not too expensive monthly fee.
Small Ways to Stretch: Video, Blogging, and Podcast Guesting
So find places in your business where you can step out of your comfort zone. Maybe it is. Maybe it’s doing a video. Maybe you haven’t done any videos before and you’ve only been. Maybe you like to write, so you’ve been blogging and you’re happy with that.
Or you just like doing social media posts. But maybe try, try a video once in a while. Maybe you might consider being a guest on a podcast as a way to be able to stretch yourself and to be able to promote yourself. There’s lots of different ways that you can go out there and, and, and be.
Take that step that, that feels uncomfortable but will pay dividends. Maybe not initially, but the more you get yourself to do it, the easier it will be.
Training Update: Seven Miles and the Power of Self-Talk
So, yeah. Oh, and then one other thing, and then I’m going to share some light language with you is so just to let you know how my training’s going. So yesterday I did, I wanted to do 7 miles so that next week when I do my 10k, it will seem easier since it’s only going to be 6.2 miles. So I did. So I was using my app and I, I made a mental note of what my time was at the 6.2 miles.
So. But I still let it roll through the whole seven miles. And when I got home and calculated it, I was not as fast as I was on Thursday because again, I was doing longer. Feet were bothering me, thighs were hurting a little bit, but I kept going. I kept.
Oh, yeah, I kept. I kept.
Here’s another lesson, actually, that, that helps you. Like I talked about how I talk to Myself in the restroom. Well, I also talk to myself out on the trail. I was talking to myself and saying relax, relax. I know the toes are cramping but just relax, relax, you’re fine, you’re fine.
I made an endeavor to like stand up straighter as I was, as I was striding and just you know, do it so that where miles four to five and a half ish, almost six were a bit painful and hard and my, and I slowed my pace down a little bit by the time I finished. I was much stronger and felt better by the time I ended. So anyway, the good news is, is that I did okay on my pace. I was still way shorter than I was a week ago. And more importantly there’s a set time limit.
You have to maintain a 16 minute per mile pace to do the 10k. And I was under 16, not by a lot, but I was under. And I know that next week I’m going to be racing not alone, I’m going to be racing with my daughter in law and my son. So I know they’re going to keep my energy up and I’m going to do, I’m gonna do great. I know it, I know it, I know it.
Mind Over Matter: Why Affirmations Work
So yeah, sometimes you just gotta have good conversation with yourself and say, okay, come on, you can do this, you can do this. You know, just, I know it may, it may seem a bit, but you know, just you know, mind over matter. It’s amazing. Our brains are such powerful tools that, that’s why people say affirmations work and, and I know sometimes when I’m, when I do use them, yeah, they do work. But it is that emotion and I was using a lot of emotion while I was out there yesterday going, relax, come on, you’re okay, you’re okay.
You got this, you got this girl, you got it. And it worked. So. All right, I’m gonna take a, have a drink of water for one quick second and then I want to share some light language with you because in case maybe you’ve had a week like I had. Yeah.
Light Language for Courage: Set Your Intention
And, or you know, whether it’s been an up and down week and you’ve had to deal with, you know, highs and lows and grief and, and happy, happy events and celebrations and whatever. Or it’s a week of maybe, you know, there’s something you need to do but you’ve been scared to do it and, but you know it’s going to be good for you but you are a little reluctant to step out of your comfort zone and do it. So what I’m going to ask you to do right now is to just let that go. Just let that go for a couple minutes. Okay?
And I’m going to invite you to, if it’s safe, how you’re listening to this right now, to just close your eyes and just take a deep breath in and let it out and just ask that. Set the intention. Set the intention that what you’re going to hear right now will allow you to gain some courage to step out and to step out of your comfort zone and take. Take one action this week that you’ve been putting off. Just.
Just once, one action and. And maybe it’s even just a one portion of an action, but just something to get you into momentum. So. Good. All right.
As I say, I’m going to set my intention again and ask for my wonderful guides to share with me a message for. For me and you.
[Light language transmission — audio only]
Be a Light Bearer: Live Boldly and On Purpose
All right.
Hope you received that with the love that was intended for you today. Because we all need help sometimes and we all need to. I think we all need to be light bearers and bring light into the world, but also be able to receive light from other people. Because light is love and love is light. And if we can spread more of that in the world, this would be a pretty doggone wonderful place, wouldn’t it? So let’s.
I’m counting on you. Do your part today and tomorrow and the next day until you hear from me again, and then do it again. So thank you for listening today. I am so glad I had a chance to talk with you, and I hope. I hope this episode encourages you, inspires you, maybe even brings you a little peace, I don’t know, but get you going in the right direction and to have a.
Have a. Have a wonderful life. So, you know, yeah, we’re gonna leave it there. So go out and as I like to say, go out and live boldly and on purpose.
