How a Scripting Retreat Unexpectedly Changed My Life

Last week I was regularly having death by duvet days. I wasn’t going out much, my last launch failed, and I was fed-up with life.

In short, I was in a rut.

I have those from time-to-time. You know when you get stuck in your comfort zone. It’s like a child’s security blanket that has outlived its usefulness – all smelly and ragged.

When I was feeling better in October, I had booked a five-week holiday to Spain. But even that was not enough to galvanise me, and I wanted to clutch that security blanket for dear life.

However, I knew there was hope in that holiday. So, I reluctantly got up at 3.15 am for my 6.20 flight to Malaga.

As soon as I was here, I started going out in the sunshine and planning days out.

Scripting for Success

The next night I attended the IAJW retreat Scripting for Success with Laura West.

I had done a lot of scripting informally with my first coach. She encouraged me to write out my month as if it had already happened.

However, I had a few reservations about this retreat. On the plane on the way to Spain, I’d been reading Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map. In it she suggests that chasing after goals is counterproductive and that it’s better to have intentions and hold them more loosely.

That made a lot of sense to me because often I wouldn’t achieve my goal but would accomplish something else.

“It’s who you become in the process of reaching for your goal,” my coach said to me.

I wondered if by scripting a particular future, I’d be setting myself up for failure. Still, I decided to see what there was to scripting anyway.

To my surprise my fears were quickly allayed, as Laura explained that we would be concentrating on feelings and that the script we wrote was only one in an endless stream of possibilities.

I enjoyed the process of scripting out my year ahead. We talked about serendipity and the power of Universal Energy, the UAC – the Universal Abundance Current, as Laura called it.

As I looked at my script, I wondered how I could ever possibly achieve some of the intentions I had set for myself. In particular, my financial goal.

But I felt much better and had my mojo back.

What Happened Next

The next day I was browsing on an online forum and saw an opportunity for freelance work as a beta reader. I would absolutely adored that. I applied and got the job!

I also decided to revisit applying for freelance magazine writing, an opportunity I had considered but previously dismissed.

Even more exciting than that was my decision to spend more time in Spain. However due to Brexit (I’m from Scotland), I knew I couldn’t spend as much time there as I would have hoped.

I began looking into possibilities such as getting a visa or possibly moving to Ireland, taking up residence and possibly moving that way.

Skipping to Sunrise

Then a thought came to me. Why not move to East Lothian where it is sunnier and drier? I love Edinburgh and thought that being near it would open so many more possibilities than where I am now, which although beautiful, suffers from a typical west of Scotland climate and is a retirement town.

I have decided to save up to make the move which I think I can do within the next two to three years and the money from the freelance work will certainly come in useful for that.

I’ve done work with Leia Francisco on transitions and have named my transition ‘Skipping to Sunrise’ as sunrises in the east.

I know that journaling and the scripting retreat opened my mind to so many more possibilities than I had previously thought.

I’m enjoying the present and eagerly anticipating the future. And what’s more I have got into a routine – no more death by duvet days.