Why Crying on the Beach is good for the soul

Beach evaluationYesterday I met an inspirational man. Michael Crossland. Someone I had never heard of until I googled him the night before attending MYOB Partner Connect Conference. Accountants are not supposed to have emotions – but let me tell you why I spent time on the beach crying after listening to his key note speech.

During the day – I was learning, networking, seeking advice, making connections, seeing developments in the MYOB software – things I thrive on for my business to run in an optimal way.

But the kicker – the kicker was the speech at the end of the day – when possibly my attention span was starting to sway a little bit, my thoughts had turned to the 25 degree day and the beach a mere 2 blocks away.

The kicker was when I heard a man I had never met nor ever knew about – make me cry in a room full of accountants.

You see, Michael (go on – google him if you haven’t already) has been through a lot. He suffered cancer as a child and was told he would not live, never play sport and never do the things that most of us take for granted every day. He suffered two heart attacks by the age of 18. He saw 24 other children who had his disease die, from the drug they used to try and save their lives. He had to watch his mother choose to inject him with the drug – in the slight chance that perhaps it might just work.

And here I was waking up yesterday complaining as I was in Broadbeach and it seemed a cockroach had wanted to share the room with me for the night.

Hello Stacey – there are people in the world who are having far more of a difficult time than you.

So his first point really hit home – Why do we complain so much? Why do we complain every day?

Um, guilty as charged. Sorry – next time I see a cockroach I will just flick it over the balcony and just move on. I mean really, it was hardly going to eat me was it?

So once I realised I was being petty (and with tears streaming down my face after hearing his story), the next point hit me equally as hard.

Why do we wait for things to slip away before we realise what we have?

UMMMM – guilty as charged again. Often we are so consumed in our business and personal life that we don’t even focus on what we have as we just don’t have time to think. When was the last time you reflected on your life, your business, your vision, your goals?

So last night – after spending 44 minutes crying in a room full of accountants I went straight to the beach – my happy place (seriously I think I was a mermaid in a past life). And I recorded a video (check out my Facebook live video – raw and real is an understatement).

I recorded a video about why I am grateful – I have staff who help me run my business, I have a husband who is looking after the children so I can take a few days out to learn, I have clients who love the help and assistance I can offer, I get to see my children every single day, we get to go on a holiday each year and my business still successfully runs without me, and I get to work with amazing people in business every single day – and I am following my dreams for what I want to achieve.

I am lucky and I am blessed in so many ways. And it took crying for 44 minutes in an accounting conference to make me realise this (and perhaps a few more minutes crying on a very public beach).

So, what am I hoping to achieve with this blog post ? I am hoping that you take the time every single day to check in with yourself. Are you truly happy? Are you headed in the direction that you want to head (and not following someone else’s dream)? Who can you help (and expect nothing in return)? Where are you making a difference in someone’s life?

I am proud to be part of the MYOB community who last night raised over $60,000 for Michaels Raise the Roof project. I urge you to take a look and ask yourself – can you help in any small way – as I am sure that you are much more blessed and lucky than you realise.

Want to learn to love your numbers? yes please...Bookkeeping, Accounting & Tax services Australia wide