Best place to have a meltdown

Meltdowns. Temper tantrums. Whatever you call them, they happen to the best of us.

I had a spectacular one last week, complete with my favorite swear words, crying and not a little yelling – including choice words for my cell phone which chose that moment to ring – how dare it?!?

The silver lining to this meltdown is I picked the absolute best place to have it: in the middle of a small gathering of truly amazing, supportive women who are my peeps in a mastermind group.

So what happened? Well, I talked through an issue and the frustration I’m having with it. I’m making tough choices and sometimes choosing differently than I thought I would. I’ve been working really hard and for a brief period, could not see my way to success. Nor could I hear the excellent advice from my mastermind colleagues. It all just seemed like too much. So when our coach asked how I was feeling, I really let loose. Anger, frustration, sorrow, guilt, defeat – it was an all-you-can-eat buffet of emotions that poured right out of me.

What happened next saved me.

One by one, my friends gently offered their support, reminding me of all the success I’ve had and how I will be successful with this too. In the week since that meeting, I’ve been getting messages from them, reaffirming the choices I’m making and telling me I’m awesome. Thanks in a big part to this, I’m back to reviewing options and making thoughtful choices that I know will propel me forward.

So the answer to “Where’s the best place to have a meltdown?” is “with a really solid group of people who support you”. As opposed to, say, the middle of the grocery store.

Once I moved past the drama, it got me thinking about how important it is to spend time with the right people. By the “right” people, I mean those who are fully on our team, who bring out the best in us and inspire us to be even bigger & better versions of ourselves. It’s been said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. A great question to ask ourselves is if we’re spending time with the people we want to be more like. I can think of a few people who, from a business point of view, operate at a level I’d like to attain. I’ll definitely spend more time with them. I can also think of people in my life who always seem to steer conversations to gossip, which never feels good. Less time with them.

Who are you spending time with? Are they the right people for you?