I’m Tired of Roadblocks

Last week I reached out to my tribe (aka the Alliance) and said “Ladies I need some love and support. Who has time for coffee?” Gratefully, my peeps stepped up. It was a tough week. We were making hard decisions about the focus of the business, how to fund the next wave of Maple (yes there is a next wave), wearing many business hats and, like everyone else, dealing with all the rest of what life presents.

Back at my desk I had an email from another Alliance member that said “Hey I’m reading your blog. How are you holding up? Let’s get together soon. You sound weary.”

This was wonderful and terrible all at the same time. Wonderful because my Alliance knows me so well that they can sense my weariness and generously offer their time to give me a boost. Everyone should have people like this in their lives reminding you we are all connected and how valuable you are.

It was also terrible because I thought I was doing a bang-up job of keeping that exhaustion to myself. Soldiering on in silence. Apparently, I was only fooling myself.

Truthfully, things have been difficult lately. There is a lot of pressure to stay true to our vision and guiding principles for Maple, while still doing the things to ensure we are a successful business. Those two things don’t always play well together. That friction creates a ton of stress.

The nice thing about having a business partner who is as deeply invested as I am (and I don’t just mean financially but philosophically and personally) is that when things get this hard, you have that other person to lift you up and show you the way forward. You have someone to lean on while you have your meltdown. Scott and I have a sort of unwritten rule that we take turns having our meltdowns, that way someone keeps us moving ahead. Only, things have been really challenging recently and we are both sort of vying for meltdown time.

Last Wednesday, sitting at my desk, knowing it wasn’t my turn to despair, I had this moment of self-doubt. I found myself wondering, “Do you want to continue subjecting yourself to this much stress and pressure. Is it too much? Can you do it?” Long, deep sigh…

Frustrated, I started flipping through Insta and landed on Glennon Doyle Melton’s feed (@GlennonDoyle). Zipping through there I remembered something she often posts: #WeCanDoHardThings. Not only does she say that, but then she typically shows us how we do hard things. Not that she always knows what to do or succeeds 100% of the time, but she tries and she invites others to try with her, and more often than not, stuff gets done.

My next thought was “Well this is really freaking hard.”

And then “Yup it is. <pause> And you can do it.”

I can.

Because I believe so deeply in Maple and how it helps people navigate their own life’s journey. Because I’m not the only one who believes. Because I have support working with me to make Maple come to life and support separate from Maple to help when I need to focus purely on myself. Because as I share my vision of Maple with others, I’m bowled over every time at the offers to help. Most often it’s: “What can I do to make your vision of Maple a reality?”

My answer is always the same: give it a try for yourself, tell people about it any way you can, and give me feedback. Simple.

We made bold choices in deciding how to bring Maple to life and how to operate as a business. We made those choices because of what we believed in and what was important to us, and hopefully it is all important to you as well. That hasn’t always made things easy, but in the end, I know it will make us successful and proud of what we have to offer. Going forward I’m adopting Glennon’s mantra: We can do hard things. And I’m channeling her spirit, which is: get out there and do what it takes.

They may give us a run for our money, but as long as we keep trying, supporting each other and learning while we go then we can overcome those hard things. Let’s do this!

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