My friend Laura Gassner Otting has just released the most amazing book that has already topped charts, and scaled best-selling lists "Wonderhell."
The name is catchy but the content is "MUAH!" chef's kiss.
She writes:
"Wonderhell is you, in the space between your past success and your next accomplishment - between who you were and who you just realized you can become."
Every time I read that statement, I have to take pause because it takes my breath away.
If you are a high-achiever, you probably do too.
You see, I am surrounded by high achievers on purpose. I have always been a go-getter and hustler, so it has happened almost naturally over time.
But now I'm in a new place - I'm in "Wonderhell" to be exact. Which is this place where I live where I can't believe how much I have accomplished in my life. I'm "successful" by all societal standards. I've checked all life's "boxes."
Graduate with honors from a prestigious college? Check.
Buy my own home as an independent woman? Check.
Meet a nice man, get married, have babies, buy a bigger house?
Check. Check. Check.
I've even climbed to the tippy top of the corporate ladder.
Now that I'm here, that I have checked all these boxes, I started to question - is this it? Or am I meant for more? If I am honest, it wasn't so much of a question, but what started as a whisper that turned into a shout, that I AM MEANT FOR MORE.
But what is more when all the boxes are checked?
It is standing on the current success yet, looking for the next one. It is recognizing that the goal I had set, and achieved for myself, while great, is also just a starting point.
As Laura puts it:
"It was the most sudden expansion in my expectations for myself- an entirely new perception of my capabilities in relation to my success."
It is a whole new unlimited perspective on what CAN be if I just reach for it.
Moving Past the Love
What has held me back the most in life, has been the love of my family. And I say this WITH LOVE - but their concern, their mindset, and their perceptions were like little hands grabbing at me to pull me close, and keep me safe.
And I get it! It can be hard to see a loved one reaching for something that seems so far OUT of reach. It can pull at your heartstrings with worry that whatever "it" is, will be too stressful, too much work, too challenging (and not in a good way!)
But they don't know what I'm capable of. Even I don't yet know what I'm capable of. I can only dream of it and then TRY to do it.
A Way Through Wonderhell
There is a way through this "wonderhell" that Laura describes.
You will experience doubt. You will experience imposter syndrome. You will experience fear.
But you will not experience regret.
You will take on the lessons that life offers up on a silver platter.
The biggest one is that your most recent success is just the starting line for your expanded potential - that you are always either in the middle, doing the work, or at the starting line.
Life is filled with infinite possibilities, if you choose to embrace the ride.
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