A few months ago, Arianna Huffington asked me to write something about my daughter and I and how we have handled Covid-19 in the middle of Manhattan and created a little bubble of fun.
I held back. Why would you want to read about how we have coped? I didn’t want to make people feel bad, or see it as bragging, or the typical “Yeah of course she can, she is a successful business owner with resources can probably travel out of Manhattan,” and so on.
It was not until last night, while listening to a mentor (for the second day in a row) talk about marketing as a coach that I realized how powerful our own story is in helping others.
I always talk about self-development or mindset – most of the time answering questions posed to me. I have helped over 1000 individuals in the past few years do everything from permanently break through lifelong fears and phobias in under an hour to building a profitable side gig to growing and scaling business and achieving their next-level while also building an amazing lifestyle. I love getting businesses and their owners to a place where they are no longer in the day to day and can leave their business for at least 30 consecutive days. But talking about myself? Not so much.
So, Mrs. Huffington, despite the fact that you asked way back on August 13, I finally understand the benefit of sharing my personal story with others. So here it goes…
I live in Manhattan, New York. I do not own a car, I am a single parent and I am solely and fully responsible for my daughter’s emotional, physical and financial wellbeing. Just me – and trust me I am not waiting for anyone to rescue me. I am soooooo good.
I am a very successful life and business coach for lack of a better term. I like to say, I help my clients transform and become Unfu*kwithable. Heck, I even wrote a book about it. I believe life is very simple and if you master Mindset, Vibration & Processes (MVP) you can have anything you want.
I see the power of MVP in my own life – going from homeless to being able to own multiple successful businesses that allow me to make lots of money, have a lot of fun and help hundreds of people each year. I see it in the lives of my clients, whether they are executives, professional athletes or stay at home parents who are now living their best lives.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit NYC, NYC shut down. My child was made to stay home and try to engage in remote learning. We did not venture outside much and I was not taking car service or public transportation at all. I was locked in but I did not see it that way. I chose to see it as a really fun adventure.
The power of your words. I purposely avoided saying, “Hey, it will be over soon” or “I can’t wait for it to be done” or “I can’t wait for things to go back to ‘normal’.” I avoided “back to normal” and references to what the future held on purpose because there is a great deal of power in the words you use. I chose to keep us in the moment as best as possible and still do.
While my apartment does not have a television – it never has, my daughter is old enough to hop on her laptop, ipad or cell phone and read about current events and be affected by the media. I took that into consideration and my daughter and I have open and honest discussions. Including what to do when medical science does not even have the answer and no one can agree on protocol in one the largest democratic nations on the planet. We do this without judgement. And I do this to be able to pull back the curtain, lessen the fear and stress and so she can learn to get comfortable with the unknown. After all, fear is simply triggered by the unknown.
I can sit here and blame COVID-19 for crushing one of my companies, a legal recruiting company, as all law partner transactions have effectively stopped for the time being; or I can take this opportunity to pivot and have that company start to refer them to my coaching company and actually demonstrate for my daughter how to handle the unexpected.
My daughter and I had a really easy transition. This was in part, because we treated it like a game, like a fun experiment. Everything from how to remodel our rooms to function for work and sleep without spending any money to how to manage our daily lives to continue to accomplish our goals, but now having to think in different ways to get there. By the way, we were not successful at zero dollars, however we did squeak by having spent only $100
Don’t get me wrong, she misses her friends. She can get bored of being in her room or the apartment. We have done well to take the breaks needed and make this a fun time of learning and being curious.
By treating this moment in time as an adventure, we see things differently. Nothing is forced upon us and instead, we control what we can – our emotions, our perspectives and our mindsets. You have the power to control your own narrative and it will be whatever you constantly say it is. Again, words have power.
Being flexible and not believing that it has to look or feel or even function in a particular way, has also made a huge difference. I am someone who likes a plan and is very punctual. This does not work in times like these. So I had to let go of any idea that it needed to be a specific way.
I deeply and truly believe the universe has my back and every glitch will have a happy end result that somehow ends up working in my favor. Every day, this idea gets proven true, time and again. This ability to let go has made all of the difference.
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