Stella Orange finding the message that makes your cash register sing

What’s your jellyfish?

What’s your jellyfish?

It was 78 degrees in the Atlantic ocean on Sunday, and I was pretending to be tough.

My companions had decided they were gonna spring the extra 5 bucks for wetsuits.

Not me.

Never mind that I was covered in goose bumps.

It was a wet, windy ride out to the reef, after all. But I’ve been running every day for 4 weeks and—I’ll admit it—I was rocking my bikini.

Dangit! My people are from Minnesota! My uncle was a deep sea diver in Alaska! Why on earth would I need a wetsuit?!

Thankfully, the still small voice within has my number. She whispered: sweetie, you’re shivering. Remember, my love: there’s no pride in going hypothermic and sinking to the bottom of the sea.

So there I was, in the ocean in my goggles, snorkel, fins… and wetsuit. And I’m swimming around, looking at the fishies and the coral and BAM!

Out of nowhere, a jellyfish comes up and gets right in my face.

I totally spazzed. Lost my surfer-bro calm and flailed. FULLY.

Once my wits returned, I swam away, came up for air, and gathered my composure. Then I put my goggles and snorkel back on and went back to watching fish tv.

No more than 10 minutes later… BAM! A second jellyfish, up in my business. Same thing. Got spooked, flailed, had to come up for air and calm myself back down.

Around this time, one of my companions swam back to the boat. “I’ve had enough of these jellyfish.”

Not me. Snorkel and goggles back on… I turned back on my stomach and kept on swimming.

Some moments later… you guessed it. ANOTHER jellyfish. Again, I flapped my arms and legs like some sad, flightless bird.

And then?

I stopped.

And calmly paddled backward until I put a good 5 feet between me and the biggest jellyfish I’ve ever seen.

It was the size of a garbage can lid. Bubbleyum pink. It wasn’t floating like a flying saucer. It was sideways, like a cable tv dish.

And it was PULSING to propel itself forward.

For a tiny moment, I realized that this jellyfish wasn’t terrifying.

She was beautiful. She was alive. And she was at peace, just doing her thing, moving about the ocean. Just like me.

This morning, I sat down to do a little soul-searching. And I wrote out 4 questions to ask for guidance on:

• What do I desire?
• What’s really fun for me right now?
• What am I being called to learn?
• What’s bumming me out about my business?

And I realized that last question is my jellyfish. The things that are frustrating or scary or overwhelming in my biz can be admired and observed… they’re there, in this ocean we call life, just like me. But they’ll continue to cause me to lose my cool… UNTIL I learn to take a moment, paddle back, and watch so I can make a new choice.

What’s your jellyfish these days? If you’re feeling brave, leave a comment on the blog. And remember your wetsuit. There’s no pride in going hypothermic and sinking to the bottom of the sea.