The Power of Commitment

As I prepare to leave for the Spacious in Spain women’s retreat my friend Stephanie and I have been nurturing for over a year, the pace of creating something out of nothing is on my mind. How we both held its proverbial hand as it wobbled along in the early stages, and then zoom!—off it went into the world as if sprung fully realized in an instant.

Eight women will be joining us for this retreat, while five cancelled at different moments along the way, all for their very personal and good reasons.

Did our faith get shaky? More than a bit, especially when we were one short of the minimum number of women needed, and in two days that number shrank by three.

Mentally ‘letting go’ of the retreat, I realized how very, very much I wanted it to happen. More email, blog, and social media blasts found their way out of my fingertips, letters to girlfriends and talking it up with strangers. More focus, more showing up, more passion, remembering the first seed of the idea sprouting out of our mouths. A certain stubbornness. More. More. More. Then, just as spectacularly out of nowhere as the cancellations, one woman signed up, then another, and another…

This up and down and sideways, zig-zaggy, spirally pattern has a name, of course. Commitment.Lena Stevens of The Power Path eloquently describes it as “…removing the back door, the escape route and the words “if,” “maybe,” and “when” from your vocabulary. Commitment is moving into your future with no turning back and no escape hatch.”

It sounds a bit scary, I know. More than a bit impossible, too. And we’re off to Spain. Into the future… see you there.