Today’s post for Daily Bloomified was written alongside the easy-going, free-flowing “Conventions-Wood Master” by Playgate. So relaxing and you feel like the ocean is nearby.
It’s true. Happiness takes making risks in your life. But they are not adrenaline-seeking risks like jumping out of plane, or jumping off a boat into the middle of the ocean (although, I accomplished the latter and it was incredible). No. Risk taking to achieve true happiness is only a risk because it is outside of your fearful norm.
We all have a bubble of a norm that we like to live in.
For me in the past, it was simply doing what I am great at: teaching. I knew since I was 6 what I loved to do and that I was going to be an amazing teacher. Having both parents as educators helped a lot. I got to hear the heroic stories of how they changed the lives of kids every single day. I admired it. I loved it. And it felt SO good to do the same.
However, as I got older, I realized that I was meant for even more. And that was weird to me. I never thought you could get more than what you already set out to do. It was scary to think that there was an entire life outside the four walls of my perfectly, successful little classroom. I never thought there could be anything I would love more either!? And that was because of my norm bubble – the fact that I had never even dreamed of wanting to do anything else in this life, but teach.
Teaching led me to the next part of the dream, where the dream is simply living life to my ultimate potential. Teaching led me to Coffee. or “CWOFFEE!” if you’re an old east coasting gem. Coffee allowed me to use my teacher skills in a whole new way and see that the classroom exists everywhere you go. It’s in a business, it’s in your family, it’s in yourself for goodness sake.
And so, I dared to jump out of my norm. For me, THAT was my skydiving moment. That was my huge risk. I feel it necessary to mention that it was a well thought out risk too. I had done research on coffee shops and knew enough to begin working in one. Coffee became a realistic part of my life once I accepted that I was passionate about it, and would do anything to learn more. This drive and passion, led me to working for the best Roasting Company I will ever know. Because of the experience I gain
Where teaching meets coffee 🙂 @TheCoffeeTrigger
ed from this company and the mentors within it, as well as the openness on my end to say yes to every opportunity within the industry, the coffee life became an attainable goal the way teaching had become in my early years of studying and practicing it every single day.
However, in order to be brave enough to make this decision and guide my work ethic to understand that I would do anything to pursue this goal, I had to write, run, read, be in nature and ultimately know myself inside and out.
I’d say this process happens to anyone who has taken a big leap in life. In fact, it wasn’t the first time I had to take a giant leap. If you have read The Backstory of my blog, then you know how it all started. I had to get divorced to finally understand who I was and am. And how did I do it? Without being able to go to therapy because I was laid off at the time and not being able to turn to family, because I was beside myself, I had to create a routine that would help me understand the hell-hole I was in and bravely rip apart my life to fully move forward. Sounds easy when you put it in a paragraph, but no, it was insurmountable at the time. It was actual and literal hell at first.
Slowly, as I hacked away at my life, one prayer at time, one journal entry at a time, one soul-seeking moment of humility at a time, I found the truest nuggets of my existence. And ever since then, I have only played this game of life according to those nuggets of truth.
I uncovered an immense amount of information about who I was and who I wanted to be during those years of healing and understanding. As I made these discoveries, I submitted myself to everything GOOD I knew in this world. The beach. Nature overall. Prayer. Deep meditation. Service and volunteering. Teaching, with the goal of being the best I could ever be. Running marathons (in which, I used to HATE running). and WRITING (even though, I never cared much for it until I was suffering).
Make a little breakfast and coffee to fully enjoy the Daily Bloomified process. Great for getting pumped to unleash truths when writing or opening your heart when reading.
Writing, above all things, was the world where I could purge and let go of every lie I told myself, completely, while also affirming and solidifying all I had finally understood: about life and about myself.
Writing, I have come to know is the ultimate culminating factor to the Daily Bloomified routine. After running for 30 minutes (any cardio for 30 minutes) and praying/meditating for 30 minutes, writing is the home for all of the truths discovered. Being the last step in the process, it is meant to be last.
It must be last as it is the night cap to everything you have discovered and faced throughout the day. If you choose to face yourself brutally and honestly, then you will have much to write about, much to confirm for yourself. Writing is like a mirror though. It will show you exactly what you’ve uncovered and will officially sort out what is true and what is not.
You will not be able to write BS. Trust me.
Your fingers, will not let you.
Writing is more thought out than speaking. Though speaking is bold, writing unleashes what you subconsciously know to be true behind every experience you’ve ever had. Those truest, deepest discoveries come through and run through the sifter of your heart as they fall out of your fingers when typing or your hand when writing with a pen/pencil.
Sometimes, when I know I have something to convey to myself as a truth, but know that it needs a deeper connection of total submission to my thoughts, I choose to handwrite only. Because of this notion, when I write in my journal I usually handwrite prayers or concluding thoughts versus rants or purges.
When I type, it’s usually because I am pulling together many truths under one major focus or I am rapidly purging every single negative thought out of my system, like the suggested method of Morning Pages in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.
Use whichever medium of writing suits you for that day or that moment.
When I am super sad or cannot quite explain the joy radiating through my veins, I write poetry. Usually, a poem is able to express my innermost emotions or big realizations better than a paragraph or blog post. Poetry days seem to be either the hardest day or the best day for me. Just depends on you; we are all different.
I cannot express how important writing is, except to mention that every single book I’ve ever read on self-work or pursuing the most you can out of life, stresses writing as a major component for ultimate self-discovery.
Hey! Look at that, Matthew Kelly expresses the same value on working out, writing and prayer/meditating everyday. That is AWESOME!
Even right now, as I read Matthew Kelly’s Resisting Happiness, I find a beautiful affirmation of my dear Daily Bloomified routine. He so simplistically explains in Chapter 15, “Falling in Love” that even after all the great schools he attended, it was his spiritual awakening that inspired him to love learning. He then states very boldly in his book, “Wherever you find excellence, you find continuous learners. They go hand in hand. Wherever you find that continuous learning is missing, you find mediocrity.”
He is completely right. Wouldn’t you think you’d want to be a continuous learner of your own life, your own being?
He then wrote out toward the end of the chapter, the few commitments he wanted to maintain to achieve being a constant learner and lover of his own life: praying, exercising, reading, and writing every day.
If we are striving for excellence, for true understanding, for complete authenticity then yes, it takes work, time, and a devotion to the self.
A million things will want to get in the way of 30 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes of prayer/meditation and 30 minutes of writing. But when you look at it, that’s 1 hour and 30 minutes of YOUR DAY.
I have found, it is completely worth it, to sacrifice 1 hour and 30 minutes for myself.
Write anywhere. At the beach, in your backyard, at the park, at a coffee shop, at your dining room table – wherever you feel the good vibes is where you want to set up camp.
I know that if you are reading this, you are already a continuous learner. And I know that if you are reading this, Daily Bloomified will serve you well. You are willing to uncover truths, you are willing to love yourself, you are willing to take risks that are in the direction of your deepest callings. Let it all be then as it is, and just, enjoy it!
