Maybe you’ve been there.  You’ve had this little business for a while and everybody says, “Why don’t you have a website?” “How do you expect anyone to find you if you’re not on-line?”

Well, I had an easy answer for that.  People find me as they need me.  Word of mouth is just fine for me.  It all happens in divine time.  I don’t need to put myself out there. I don’t need for people to actually know what I do.

And besides, what I do can sound a little weird.  Not to me.  Not to my friends and clients who understand it.  But what about those other people?  You know, those facebook people you haven’t seen in 20 years or that relative who has no idea about the real you.  Did I really want to be seen by them?

I couldn’t deny the possible answer in all of this. Maybe, just maybe, I didn’t want to be found at all.

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So when the knock inside my head finally became loud enough and I decided grudgingly to start contemplating a website name, all the ones I liked were already taken.  That Go Daddy moment was definitely not working out for me.  Anything that sounded remotely like me just wasn’t available.

I was beginning to lose hope.

And I was beginning to feel relieved.  There were no website names.  Great.  I could retreat.  I could contract.  I could quit this whole enterprise – who needs the 21 st century anyway?  Maybe expanding out into the world and showing people who I really was wasn’t such a great idea after all.

I could just go back inside my hole.  What a relief.  There’s color TV in there.

Then I typed in three little words:  Showing Up Authentically.  Oh, dear.  It worked.  It was available.

And I was screwed.

Of course, I didn’t know that at first.  At first, I thought – terrific, hell yeah.  That’s the perfect name for my website.  I believe in those two things above everything else:  showing up everyday and being authentic.  It’s the combination that has changed my life.  I bought the domain name immediately.  No hesitation.  I signed on the dotted line.  I was overjoyed.

Until the next morning when I woke up with buyer’s remorse and a bad “oh shit, do I really have to show up authentically” hangover.

Now, I should put in a disclaimer here.  I’ve gotten pretty good at showing up authentically.  I work at it.  I challenge myself.  I’m a girl who can really feel her feelings.

But let’s not kid ourselves.  Showing up Authentically can be a tall order.  In the light of day, I was becoming more and more aware of those dark corners inside that I didn’t want anyone to see.  I barely showed them to myself.  And what, now I was going to have to BLOG about them.  Oh, crap.

After a little anxiety and a little hysteria, I sat down and had a little talk to myself.  Dana, I said, You believe in this stuff.  On a daily basis, this stuff changes your life for the good.  I believe that helping others live their own most honest lives is a great calling. So what are you so scared of?

That’s when I realized the website name was perfect.  Because we’re always a work in progress.  By calling my website Showing Up Authentically, I’d have no excuses. I’d have to show up authentically (or at least try) even in the hard places, even in the shame places, even in the places I don’t want to share.  But those places are real and valid and inform who I am – so far.  So that’s okay.  I can live with that.  And as we get to know each other, I’d like to gently suggest that you can, too.

Thanks for reading my first post.  I’ve got lots of thoughts and ideas and practices that I plan on sharing. I have launched a Showing Up Authentically facebook page and I’d love you to come visit.  Okay, strike that inauthentic statement.  Rather, come by, check it out if you like.  Oh, did I just say the word LIKE?  Ugh.  Clearly, authentically, I’m going to have to warm up to this!

To being real,

Dana