I sat at my desk. I had no idea where to start.

Heart racing. Jittery. Shifting from screen to screen and then to my list and the pile of notes. 

The launch was two weeks away but by the way I was feeling, it may as well have been the next day. 

I had no idea where to begin the mountain of tasks that lay ahead and there was so much that I already felt way behind on completing.  My team was working quickly with everything I gave them but each step, each task, required me to explain, to share a document, to review a task and because of this, my involvement kept stalling the process.

Even though I had sat on the other side of this conversation so many times listening to my clients say, “I don’t know where to start.” I still found myself with the same question in my head. 

In my panic, I just could not figure it out.  Every task and decision felt equal in importance. 

Meanwhile, the launch was one thing but operations on the existing business still had to go on as well as administration of the company overall. 

Just Walk Away

I closed my eyes for a moment.  

I could just walk away. 

Could I just walk away? 

Was that even a thing after all of these years? I was sure someone would hire me.  That seemed easier than facing all of this. 

I would get paid, regularly, and I would no longer be the final decision-maker. 

Oh my gosh, THE DECISIONS, always so many of them. 

I imagined the hammock in my yard and how long it had been since I just laid in it.  Read in it.  Closed my eyes and napped.  I wished I was there.

Picking up my phone, I sent a text.

“I am swearing off all men in business,” I typed. What does that even mean?   I know she would respond. She’d know I was melting down and that I needed to be walked back from the edge.

It worked.

“What happened?” came the response in text. 

Mental vomit via text ensued. All of this because I didn’t know where to start and felt like I should.

Thank God for Her, Walking Me Back From the Edge

Not judging, just listening, asking the next probing question, letting me vent.  She knew I was venting. She knew something had triggered this outburst. She also knew that there was something at the core.

Back and forth.  I would say something just to ‘bait’ her in.  She knew my play and would call me on it.  No wallowing here.  And then it came, the one statement that I would return to, again and again. 

Ephesians 6:10-18 

New International Version 

The Armor of God 

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 

15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 

17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

A pause in the text thread…

“Verse 15 especially,” she typed.

Reading back through the passage I stopped at verse 15, “and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

I was not feeling peaceful.  I saw an image of myself standing in the center of the chaos, feet firmly on the ground.  It’s not what the passage said but my mind immediately went to ‘grounding.’

This is something she, Sensei Victoria Whitfield, knew a lot about.  She teaches it to people like me: founders, business owners, executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals.

The conversation continued, I texted and also started picking up the next thing to do, and the unstuckness began to dissipate.  (btw, it was never about men, just for clarification.)

Taking time out for grounding.

That night, instead of working more, I went out with my family.  We enjoyed dinner, shopped for homecoming attire, laughed, watched tv, and enjoyed baklava.  I turned off my brain. It felt good.  It felt grounded.

But in the wee hours of the morning, the time my mind started spinning again.  The passage came back to my mind.  “The Armor of God”, “and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

What is the Armor of God?  Am I wearing it? Am I grounded in peace?  I Googled TD Jakes Amor of God.  He must of talked about this. 

YouTube returned a list.  He’s talked about it, multiple times, actually. 

Then one video popped to my attention, “T.D. Jakes Sermons: This is Not the Time to Lose Your Head” I clicked and watched and listened with earbuds in, while my husband slept peacefully next to me. 

He talked about the Helmet of Salvation and framed it as not getting lost in our feelings (our heart) and all of the what-ifs that we can imagine but instead returning to the facts (our head) and that in difficult times we need to rely on the facts on the truth to lead the way.  And, that these facts and truth will be under attack, which is why we need a ‘helmet’ to protect our minds from the distraction that this attack will cause. 

That was it! I needed to return to facts, truth, data, and information to make the decisions ahead not the imaginings of my heart, the worry, the anxiety, and the stress. 

Realization hit me like a ton of bricks. This is what Momentum is all about consistently returning to the facts. Returning to the plan. Protecting your head from the onslaught that comes when you are in the midst of running a company day to day.

The awareness and insight went even deeper as I remembered the vision I had many years before, the one that directs the mission of Sappari Group. The vision of helping others receive and stay steadfast to the mission they were given.  

A layer was added, we do this by ‘protecting your head’.   

When I finally got up for the day, I felt renewed in my work and clear on the next steps to take.  I had my answer to the question I had asked the day before, “Where do I start?”

Start Here

Start with grounding. 

Literally, put your feet on the ground exactly where you are. 

Close your eyes and in your mind’s eye, imagine a circle of peace around you where the chaos does not exist. 

In this peace, you have created a space to notice what is true and what is factual.

State it in your mind or out loud. 

Imagine a helmet that shields you from the onslaught of not only outside influences but also your own thoughts, feelings, and doubts. 

Take a moment, and remember your mission, your vision, and your plan. 

When you feel centered again, open your eyes and take the next action aligned with your grounding meditation.

Your Next Action

How about you? Are you uncertain where to start? What came up as you paused to meditate? 

Want to talk about it?  Let’s find a time Sappari.As.Me/LetsTalk

Nettie Owens ♥️

Momentum Live Program runs twice a year. Click to reserve your place here for just $500 down The Momentum Live Program is the place to create your helmet to protect your mind. Join us!

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