What Does It Feel Like to Lead

What does it feel like to lead?

Suffocating & a breath of Fresh Air.
Immense Loneliness & Surrounded by love.
Pain Beyond Belief & Relief in passing moments.
Being the sacrificial lamb & the wolf who protects.
Absolutely maddening & the thing that keeps me grounded and sane.
Breaking broken into a thousand pieces & sharing yourself with the tribe.
Everything is heavy, the responsibility, the burden, the challenge, the concerns, the crown.
Everything is light, the laughs, the kindness, the trust, the safety, peace, the feeling of community.
When everyone wants to check-in on you, distracting you from checking in on yourself.
When you feel the care, support, love & affection all around you.
A feeling of immense gratitude & staving off waves of resentment when everything you've done is not enough.
Chaos in motion.
Waltzing through the dance of flow when everything is clicking & the whole team is aligned.
A path I would not recommend to anyone & A path I desperately feel we need more people to walk on.
To lead, you first have to lead yourself.
You have to trust yourself and trust others.
Leading requires creating mini-leaders.
You feel immense admiration, pride, and joy when those you've entrusted to lead grow, cultivate their inner gifts and lean into their potential.
It is a call towards being of service.
An answer to those who are lost.
The signal to move forward and become a better version of yourself.
Leading feels like a paradox.
An act of love and a betrayal of self.
The best way to learn about self-care, and the best way to know who loves you when you're down.
You don't need a crown to spot the king.
Look for the one who persists.
Looks for ones who go above and beyond, the true angels.
Don't make their crowns feel like thorns.
Give them their flowers.

What makes it all worth it, are the beautiful and precious souls you have the honor of guiding and being in service for. To see their joy, to see them overcome fear, pain and sadness and choose to live.