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Create a Community to Empower YOU! - Part 2 in a 6-Part Series on Discovering Your Possibilities

Kim Pitaheadshot
Matthew J. Wagner/photo by Matthew J. Wagner
Guest Blog By Kim Sirois Pita --

Welcome back to the second of a series of six articles focused on reimagining your life. If you missed the first guest blog, you can find it here.

Our brains are filled with so many ideas of where we’d like to go and what we’d like to be in life. Do you allow yourself to put those thoughts out into the universe, or do you tend to keep them bottled up inside?

In my last article, I talked about starting a Possibilities Journal, a clever strategy I took away from the book Life Reimagined: Discovering Your New Life Possibilities by Richard J. Leider and Alan M. Webber. This is the place where you can start to release those thoughts, dreams, desires and possibilities that clutter your mind.

We have a tendency to store so much inside. It’s human nature. And with so much being thrown at us on a daily basis, we need to keep making room. Rather than risk important thoughts being lost in the mind shuffle, we need to make them a priority by writing them down.

Once they are out there, you need to start sharing them with others. Connect is the second of the six guideposts featured in the Life Reimagined book. When I decided to start a new business after leaving the marketing agency I founded 17 years ago, I knew I needed to make connections so that I could share my new story.

I needed to release my ideas out into the universe to see if they were far-fetched or doable. It was imperative to create a sounding board. So I filled my schedule with breakfast and lunch meetings with powerful business leaders and friends.

When I began to talk openly about the vision I had for my life, things began to happen. And it was all quite naturally, with little to no work at all. My meetings were not sales-y in nature. They were honest and real. I was looking for guidance and advice from those I admired and respected. One meeting led to much needed support and a new referral, which let to more insight and another meeting, and so on.

My professional and personal life plan began to unfold as I revealed more and more to each person. It all started to seem real and possible. I began to more clearly define my what’s next with help from those who saw me more clearly than I saw myself.

Even the memoir I had been working on for nearly two years began to take on a new life. I realized my extraordinary life changes that were motivated by my sister’s death needed to be included in my book. So I began to make room for them.

If we hold everything within ourselves, it is much more difficult to reach our full potential. The door to possibilities opens when you reveal yourself and begin to create a community — a community who believes in your experiment of one.

Start small and simple with your connections. Think about who is in your circle — friends, relatives, professional peers, service providers, fellow volunteers, church members, just to name a few.

Who do you admire? Who is a good listener? Who is connected? That is how it starts. It starts where YOU are. It requires being open and honest because as the authors point out in the book: “Someone can listen to your reflections and offer you support on how to knit the pieces of your life together — or how to unravel them when necessary.”

Come along and take the next step in the Life Reimagined journey. Connect and connect often. It is your chance to get in touch with your authentic self. I guarantee you will get more out of it than you put in. And who knows, you may reconnect with someone who may become a meaningful part of this next phase in your life.

***

Kim Sirois Pita, 46, has been working in the marketing field for more than 20 years and currently runs a marketing consultancy where she helps entrepreneurs develop and execute marketing plans. She lives in Rocky Hill and Old Saybrook with her two children, Jordan and Alex. You can find more of her writings on her blog at www.peaceofpita.com.

About AARP States
AARP is active in all 50 states and Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Connect with AARP in your state.