From sideways to reinvention
I am sitting on the balcony of our Airbnb in Dubrovnik, on the last day of our family vacation in Croatia.
It’s raining - a thunderstorm that’s already clearing on one side of the town while it roars on the other - and somehow rain always creates a pause.
In this pause, I am thinking about last year.
It felt… sideways.
I had funky health stuff that needed attention. It’s all good now, but since I’ve been lucky to have no health issues until last year, it affected me emotionally more than I realized.
I began to feel my age… I’m 48 and I don’t usually harp on getting older, but somehow this health stuff hit me. And I didn’t think I truly allowed myself to process that it did.
My business went sideways. Things shifted and for the first half of the year I resisted acknowledging the shift and just waited for it to get “back to normal”.
When it didn’t, I felt like I was doing something wrong. Like it was a reflection on my worth, like the world was saying that what I have to offer isn’t good enough. (The brain is brilliant at creating doubt stories of giant proportions…)
But in retrospect, all I was doing wrong was not accepting the invitation to shift and open up new portals in my work - the ones I’d wanted to explore many years earlier.
Once I acknowledged the shift and began to take steps towards creating new programs that aligned with the new ideas and transformations I wanted to activate in others, things began to gain momentum again. I’m still early in building these new businesses but I’m excited by the possibilities.
Creatively, I painted less than I have during many others years. I had the time… but somehow didn’t feel aligned. I did begin to experiment with foam and adding foam elements to my work. But mostly, creatively I felt… sideways.
I thrive on learning new things, embodying them, seeing how they transform something in me and then sharing them with others. That’s my soul’s calling.
It’s what all my work is based on and inspired by. I believe it’s why it’s potent and effective.
But for most of last year, I wasn’t truly learning new things, diving into new disciplines or ideas. It wasn’t until the end of the year that I found myself completely taken by research in hopefulness and the power of connecting your future selves and it’s been transformative.
Sideways. Not really standing still. Not backwards. Not in forward growth and expansion momentum. Sideways. That’s how last year felt.
And perhaps that’s so very necessary: to go sideways, to pause, perhaps even go in circles before growing again.
I am feeling this. I am feeling the pull of growth and expansion within myself.
I’m feeling the ignition of momentum and hope - the two magical ingredients of aliveness and progress and creating a life your soul seeks.
Perhaps going sideways - or being still, hibernating, being in the goo of transition - is necessary for this yearning to grow and expand to build up.
Perhaps we need these times of sideways and stuckness to create the inner desire to move forward towards something new again.
We can’t always be growing.
Progress isn’t linear.
In life, we go through periods of growth, stuckness, stillness, expansion, sideways, and reinvention.
And that’s what I’m feeling now: reinvention from the inside out. That’s the season of my life and work that I excitedly feel myself shifting into.
Reinvention from the inside out.
Not some forced change because it’s what I think I should do. (That was my life approach for many decades before…)
Reinvention fueled by what feels true and what pulls at my soul.
Reinvention in my business to create new ways to serve people with the new methods and tools and ideas that have been transforming me.
Reinvention in how I show up in the world to sign even more closely with what feels authentic and joyful.
Reinvention in my creativity, exploring and creating with more freedom to experiment.
Reinvention in my sense of self and my body, going from healing to greater strength and vibrancy.
Reinvention from inside out.
How does this resonate with you?
Are you feeling the inner pull to reinvent aspects of your work, your life, or perhaps your business?
I’d love to hear from you - send me an email to nataly@happier.com. I read all of the emails myself and will do my best to reply!
And because the work I share is always inspired by my own experience and learnings, I’m in the early stages of creating two beautiful mentorship programs to fuel and ignite your reinvention:
A fall offering to help you gain momentum for the reinvention you seek and a 2025 year-long mastermind for high achievers and leaders with purpose to reinvent themselves, their aliveness, and their ability to create positive impact aligned with their soul’s purpose.
If you’re interested in learning more about one of these programs, the best thing is to get on my weekly email list.
Reinvention from inside out.
If it’s calling to you, begin now:
- Take out a piece of paper.
- Give yourself 10 minutes or so.
- And just free-write about what’s pulling at your soul.
Maybe it’s about your work and stepping into a new career. Maybe it’s about your being, and experiencing more aliveness and vibrancy in your life. Maybe it’s about finding ways to shine your light brighter and share more of your unique gifts in your business or community. Perhaps what’s pulling at you is writing that book you’ve always wanted to write or picking up a paint brush.
The most important thing is this:
Don’t write what you think you should do. Connect to what feels like joy, like something trying to come through you and pull you forward.
Because that’s what creates momentum for grown and reinvention:
Hearing your inner voice and taking small steps aligned with what it’s inviting you to do.
With love,
Nataly