What do you people WANT?!?

What do you people WANT?!? ©2015 Joan M. Newcomb

A couple months ago I organized an event on Vashon Island, to serve a small group there.  I was excited because I was bringing people from Seattle to help and I felt it would be a big support for the islanders.

Everyone had agreed on the day, and I had to jump through a few hoops to reach out to the Seattle folks, who essentially had to take 6 hours out of their day, plus ferry fares, to do 2 hours of community outreach. I do this nearly every Saturday, coming from Tacoma, but I lived on Vashon for nearly 30 years, so it's a different experience for me.

What we think we need

It turned out to be a wonderful experience, the Seattle folks were enchanted by the island, which was lovely to see.

However, half the folks on the island didn't show up. One person, eager for the support, came from Gig Harbor, to receive the information.

What happened?

Maybe they didn't want it? Maybe they didn't know what they were missing. Clearly, it was my idea (but not their idea) to help move them forward.

One of the Seattleites said, "Maybe they don't know what they're missing. Maybe when they want it bad enough, they'll come to Seattle for it."

Yeah, maybe. I was trying to establish a support group on Vashon, so I felt the event needed to happen on Vashon. Which was entirely my agenda.

Maybe the folks on Vashon need to learn to go to Seattle (or Tacoma) for support; it's what I had to do when I got started.

But here's the bigger picture: when you are trying to achieve your goals, when you are going for what you really want, shit comes up.

You get scared, you get mad, you get resistant, you get judgemental, you get critical. You hide, you space it out, you oversleep, you overschedule. You tell yourself stories about what's going on, about yourself, about others.  You ______ (Fill in the blank).

In short, everything that's keeping you from getting what you want.

You may be so overwhelmed, you don't even *know* what you really need. If you are struggling with basic life issues, you may not have enough clarity to have a clear picture of what you truly want.

When you're stuck on the hamster wheel, all you can think about is getting off the wheel. You can't imagine what's possible for you.

Of course, you may want to get off the hamster wheel and rest!  But the hamster wheel has exercised your muscles to take you forward on your life (it just won't require as much effort).

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