You may be familiar with the Movie Shirley Valentine about a bored house wife in the UK who spends her days talking to her kitchen wall because …………..well…….because its there really. Fed up with her lot, Shirley decides one day to take off to Greece on her own, for a break. If you’ve seen the movie you will know that Shirley gets more than a break from her UK life and marriage…….she finds herself…..and this changes everything!

So is this a solution for us all?

Run off and find a beach to sit on, while we contemplate our life and future. Maybe, for some it is exactly what is needed.

I can tell you from my own experience of being Shirley – (alone on a beach in a foreign country) – that self reflection and indeed evaluation are much easier to do when you are not distracted by your day to day routine or obligations.

Taking yourself away from all that is familiar and plonking down somewhere strange and new is a challenge for sure. Its exciting and scary, all at the same time. You are taken out of your comfort zone so often, for all manner of reasons, that you are constantly having to adjust boundary’s and preconceived ideas about yourself and your place in the world.

Will you sink or swim?

Who can tell?

Knowing who will be a ‘swimmer’, is not a foregone conclusion; even very social people can find it a strain and sometimes the one who succeeds is the shy, quite person, content reading in the shade and watching. Some will shed their skins and transform into the person they always knew deep down they were and others will find out somethings about themselves they did not know and some will simply be miserable, like a fish out of water.

But one thing is for sure, being totally isolated from your normal environment, forces you to find out WHO YOU ARE!

Even if that is someone who cannot cope on their own and has to return ahead of schedule, you will still have learnt that you are happier when surround by familiar things and people. With luck you will have found your boundary’s and whats needed in your life, moving forward. You will have grown, one way or another.

Personally my reasons for being here are about my health but that does not change the fact that I am away, on my own, usually for a month at a time and that its an adjustment. I may not be doing a ‘Shirley Valentine’ in every-sense of the phrase but I am finding out things about myself I had forgotten and things I need to let go of moving forward. It is never a wasted journey.

So, if you are among the many people who are feeling lost and confused because you do not know what you want or who you are? Then perhaps you need to invest some time and money and consider taking that solo trip.

It just might be time for you,

to do a Shirley Valentine!

Adios mis amigos, de una playa en Mexico XX

Coach Lin xx

 

If you would like more information on ‘Doing a Shirley Valentine’ or some help on finding out what you want from life. Please do email me at

lin@helpinghand-lifecoaching.ca