Slithering into Spring
This wouldn’t be a February 2025 newsletter if I didn’t make reference to the Lunar New Year and welcome in the Year of the Snake. It feels kind of obligatory, but as usual, you can expect an alternative spin on the more traditional New Year post.
Snakes are quite the big deal in our house.
Not because we keep them.
We don’t.
Not because I like them.
I don’t.
In fact, there is not a single animal that I think terrifies me more than the snake. But my daughter (newly promoted to the grand age of 6) reads a lot of books containing snakes and thinks they are brilliant.
Take The Gruffalo, for instance. The snake in this story talksss like thisss. Hilarious.
The snake in How the Elephant Got Its Trunk is pretty much the hero when it saves the inquisitive and daft baby elephant from being eaten by the crocodile. Superhero status.
Or the snake, Penelope, in There’s a Snake in My School, who eats the mean headmistress.
Giggles central.
The stark difference between my undeniably catastrophic fear and her blissful amusement is often marked by a visit to the reptile house at the zoo—a building you will categorically NEVER find me in. I’ll be scoping out the nearest coffee shop while she talks in hisses to glass cases full of reptiles. Grim.
For me, snakes are a symbol of danger. For my daughter, they’re a symbol of comedy and the occasional hero. And (stay with me here) this got me thinking about leadership.
Much like how we (I say we here because I’m sure I’m not the only one) perceive snakes, the way we approach challenges, fears, and opportunities in our careers can be shaped by our mindset. And of course, that mindset is deeply influenced by experiences, by others, and by our belief systems.
Often, the very things we fear can be reinterpreted as chances for growth, creativity, or—dare I say it—fun. Now I’m not saying that I’ll be celebrating my next birthday at the reptile house with a cobra on my shoulders, but I am wondering how much of that fear is real, and how much is just a story we’ve told ourselves?
As female leaders, we face challenges daily. Sometimes my biggest challenges are over before 7:30 am (IYKYK).
Pro tip, btw: slap your phone straight onto Do Not Disturb when you wake up and only turn it off when you’re ready and able.
The number of mornings I’ve been a snappy tosspot because I’ve let my phone determine my mood is significant. We can easily let an annoyance spiral, collecting speed and artifacts along the way.
Our pesky brains, while looking to house new information, quickly search for other things to attach it to (we are more organized than we care to admit), but we can end up with a whole host of tentative connections that lead to a pit of negativity and fear.
But our brains are also wired to break patterns. This means that when we feel overwhelmed or stuck in negative loops, we have a choice. We can reframe our perspective and reinterpret those fears, challenges, and stressors as opportunities for growth (we’ve come full circle here, back to the promised fortunes of our dear friend the snake).
The trick is learning how to stop the spiral and shift the narrative.
Tips That Help You Regain Control and Move into Your CHOICE Era:
Reframe Your Thoughts: The brain is constantly making connections. If you catch yourself falling into a negative thought spiral, pause and ask, "What can I learn from this? What opportunity lies here?" If you have no appetite for that in the moment, at the very least, try to take notice of what’s happening. While reframing allows you to turn challenges into catalysts for growth, simply noticing what’s happening can spare you from the downward spiral.
Practice Self-Compassion: We often treat ourselves with harsher standards than we would treat others. Research shows that self-compassion leads to greater resilience and better mental health. When you mess up (because, spoiler alert, you will), be kind to yourself. I saw a quote online last week that said, “Maybe you don’t notice your progress because you’re always raising the bar” and ain’t that the truth!
Set Boundaries for Mental Clarity: As a leader, your time and energy are your most precious resources. Research shows that setting boundaries—whether it’s through not checking email after hours or creating a "quiet time" each day for focused work—leads to improved productivity and reduces burnout. It’s a paradoxical demon that we strive to be needed, only to get burnt out by the constant pull on our energy. Harsh truth: the world will not collapse because you didn’t look at your phone after 8 pm. Might you piss some people off? Maybe! But that’s on them, not you. You’re not responsible for their stressors.
So, as we slither into spring ;-), let’s try to stop the doom spiral in its tracks. The challenges are there, for sure. But how we approach them—how we choose to perceive them—how we respond to them—makes all the difference. And if you can’t muster up the desire to turn challenges into learning opportunities (I’ve been there—sometimes it’s just a big fat NOPE), you can see it, you can acknowledge it. Hey, you could even journal about it if you wanted.
When we notice, our choices multiply.
Oh, and one last thing—stop making yourself available to all and sundry at all times. Whether it’s sleep focus or Do Not Disturb, just get it set today, please!
Claire X