by Susan Zimmerman, ChFC, CLU, LMFT
More than 20 years ago, I nicknamed myself Crispy Critter. It originated because of the simultaneous entry of my hands and blowing hairdryer into a sink full of water. A sudden flash, zap, and sparks dancing up the cord to the outlet happened instantly. But miraculously, I didn’t get any shock at all – other than the shock of not being shocked! I was still just fine, but I can’t say the same of the hair dryer. It was fried to death. It was actually the crispy critter, not me. I felt fortunate, confused, and inspired to create some meaning to this brief, yet vivid experience. But please, do not try recreating this accident at home! Everything I read still leads me to believe it is hazardous and perhaps even deadly.
I ended up scrapping the nickname Crispy Critter. Although it sounded cute, it also sounded burned out and it was a time in life when I needed to charge positively forward through some career transitions and personal challenges. What was most needed, I had identified, was a fresh supply of new courage. I looked up the word crisp and fell in love with some of its definitions. They included fresh, sharp, clear, lively, sparkling, and invigorating.
I created a small ceremony to award myself crisp courage. An infusion of crisp courage would help me find a fresh approach to the phone calls I needed to make, discover a sharp focus, create lively promotional materials, learn to communicate more clearly, and be a healthy, even invigorated single mother to my two toddlers.
Have you become a crispy critter in any way of late? Perhaps your business or energy have fallen flat and instead of being sharp and clear, you feel burned out and fuzzy. There are plenty of articles to walk us through thinking and writing our unique selling propositions, but rarely do we see the suggestion that we create a ceremony to mark our commitment to infusing our business with the emotional energy it needs. My suggestion is to allow yourself to get creative and mark your renewed drive and direction with an awards ceremony. And if you like the phrase, Crisp Courage, borrow that! Let any or all of the words fresh, sharp, clear, lively, sparkling, and invigorating create motivation for you to infuse your work with some revitalizing change. Enjoy! And let me know how your crispy critter is doing after it receives its prestigious award.