Hello friends,
Every Monday morning our team kicks off the week by talking about highs/lows and a theme or word for thought to meditate on. We find that starting the week with sense of community and collective intention provides us with nourishment and alignment for the week ahead. In the same way, stewarding our own individual time to do this is a way to anchor in the truth of who we are and who we want to be each day. The busyness will come, but as we begin another new month, we hope you take the time to be still, rest and remind yourself of who you are.
Culture demands so much of us. I know very well I cannot keep or measure up to her demands. I hear her yelling to me from the left and the right, “kick into gear!”
Hustle to set yourself apart. Hustle to innovate. Hustle to build. Hustle to be seen.
And then comes the “if you don'ts”.
If you don’t your dream of [fill in the blank] won’t happen.
I know for certain that if I succumbed to all of the directives of culture I wouldn’t be me at all. I’d be lost in busyness and distraction — as I have been many times before.
Hustle is important. There is a time to hustle. Times to learn and push yourself past your comfort zone. It’s muscle building and maturing. You can’t have excellence without it. It’s been the hustle and grit I’ve shown that have shaped my ability to continuously grow in knowledge, experience, and integrity in my contribution to others.
We are all so incredibly different. There isn’t a formula for knowing when to hustle, when to resist it and when it’s key to your growth. Only you can know this.
The most important aspect of hustle has nothing to do with the “work” at all. It has everything to do with knowing yourself and not losing sight of who you are despite the loss and gain you’ll inevitably experience along the way.
Making it a continuous practice to know and believe in the richness of your unique identity will ensure that your hustle won’t be to earn the worthiness you already possess, but instead to give who you are to the world. With this comes an inner peace, security and confidence that no amount of hustle could ever provide. While you cannot have excellence without hustle, in the same way you cannot have excellence without stillness in equal measure. It’s by stewarding our time wisely and recalibrating ourselves in stillness that we build, give and contribute with contentment instead of striving.
We will daily be fed narratives that challenge our worth and identity — so it’s all the more important to daily turn down the sound on the loud voice of culture, get in the quiet, and turn up your inner voice who speaks the truth and reaffirms who you know you are.
With that, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes:
“The most dangerous stories we make up are the narratives that diminish our inherent worthiness. We must reclaim the truth about our lovability, divinity, and creativity.” ”
Cheers,
— Sarah Lembcke, Director of Operations
