Victor vs. Victim

Victor vs. Victim

But what sets apart a victim and a victor is not that victims have doubts and fears and victors don’t. Everyone will doubt. Everyone will fear. Everyone at some point will curse the hard road laid out before them. The difference is victims let those thoughts sink them. A victor may get to the bottom, may even drift back down after trying to get to the top, but they will keep swimming up. They’ll keep swimming through the water that feels like mud until their muscles are carved of steel. The victor knows who they are, they know they belong in the sun. And no matter how long it takes, they’ll fight on until they feel it on their skin again.

The Messy Middle

The Messy Middle

People talk about the beginning, the pivotal moment that made everything change. People talk about the end, the dream that finally came to fruition or the failure that knocked them down. But people rarely talk about the messy middle. The middle isn’t a rush of inspiration that makes you change the trajectory of your life. It’s not reaching the top of a mountain and gazing gloriously at the view and it’s not a crash to rock bottom. The middle is a slow, steady, painful, uphill trek through thick mud with falls along the way and few moments of reprieve.
When talking about transitional periods on his podcast, Mark Groves said “I started to think on transitions. Recognizing how hard it is to carry the space in the middle. And I think so much of our transitions are cut short because we can’t sit in the space of expansion. We can’t sit in the space of trusting that we’re going to arrive. Trusting that we are going to catch up.” Mark proposed the following question: “can you sit in the space that your soul has drawn you towards and just trust?”

Work With Your Ego

Work With Your Ego

I realized my ego wasn’t trying to ruin my life. It was not a “bad” thing. It is a part of myself trying to protect me the simplest way it knows how. Our egos are built in protection. They are devices of love, not something to resent or beat into submission.
I always have my ego in my corner, willing to protect me. But the more confident I have become, the less I need it.

Who Are You Not To?

Who Are You Not To?

We’ve been led to believe that we should step in line. Follow the status quo. Play it safe. Follow the path we’re on, avoid pivots. Even if it makes us unhappy. Our minds try to make us stay in the same places and do the same things because the familiar is safer than the unknown. But there is growth in the discomfort. We can achieve things beyond our wildest dreams if we only believed in ourselves. Next time your inner critic tries to tell you how dare you do that thing, tell it how dare I not.

Take It Slow

Take It Slow

There will be times when jumping head first into something will serve you. But there will also be times where taking it slow will help you intentionally create a life you are in love with.

There Are No Enlightened Beings, Just Enlightened Moments

There Are No Enlightened Beings, Just Enlightened Moments

There are no enlightened beings. No one is perfectly intentional or mindful all of the time. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone occasionally acts in a way they would prefer to not act. That’s okay. That is part of the human experience. There are no enlightened beings. If you’re striving to get to a place in your journey where you will never mess up, you’ll be striving your entire life. There are just enlightened moments. Moments so beautiful they take your breath away. Moments where you surprise yourself. Moments where you are so full of love that you could cry. And that, is more than enough.

How to be less Reactive

How to be less Reactive

How to be less reactive you ask? By being reflective. We combat reactivity by strengthening our reflection muscle. Intentional reflection is a skill. I would argue it is the best tool in your self-growth tool box. When faced with the option to react or reflect, first reflect. Reflection allows you to evaluate a situation for all that it is, to learn from it and make sure you react in a way of your choosing, not in a way some external event has led you to react. Here are 5 tips to be less reactive:

Blink

Blink

We all have plans and goals. Aspirations we wish to obtain. A dream is the first step to any great success story. Implementing systems to work towards those dreams is how we make progress. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’s a marathon, not a 

Don’t Abandon Yourself

Don’t Abandon Yourself

We abandon ourselves every day. We say yes when we want to say no. We eat foods low in nutrients when we want to eat healthy. We agree to stay late at work even though we’re tired. We forgo our daily routines that help us 

Where Confidence Fails, Courage Prevails

Where Confidence Fails, Courage Prevails

I have a blog post about how to be confident, I’ll link that post here. You can practice confidence. It is entirely possible to make yourself more confident. But what do you do when you don’t have time to build your confidence before doing something?