A long time ago in a year we will not disclose, I was voted “most likely to celebrate her 40th birthday at a frat party.”
No joke, that is what my girls saw when they saw me.
I was crazy, tipsy, and loud. I was always down to party and never could leave without making at least 47 new friends. Leave the bar early to hang at the house? Sure. Pizza after? You betcha.
As embarrassed as I am to even recall that bit of life, I mildly revel in it because that tenacious little lady still lives in me somewhere. She's changed, oh yes, but you can still find her.. saying yes to all the social gatherings, making way too many friends, and randomly mentioning that it's time for pizza.
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I don't tell you my old college tales to try to be funny or shocking. I tell you because recalling those times in light of where I am today provides the backdrop of my ongoing saga of making peace with the whole of my being.
Life is a huge drama we get to star in. We have scenes we want amplified and entire chapters we want to see burned. We have people we wish we could pull back in for the new season, and people we wish we could write out completely.
We all have a story and (if no one has told you yet) we get to decide how it ends.
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The fact my friends forecasted that I would welcome a new decade of life in the throes of a kegger in a college town doesn't mean I bear up that identity for life. It means I get to look into the energy that drove such a conclusion and shift it onto a new course, and channel it into new things. I mean, my kegger days are done but y'all, I'm still the friendliest girl you'll ever know and I'm still down for a midnight slice… or three.
And this is my most favorite part of this gig called life. This is why I frantically run after anyone and everyone who is ready to throw in the towel and walk off their stage. This truth that we really do get to decide to change it all if we want to.
Life is amazing, guys.
It's high, and it's wild, and it's wonderful, and yeah, it's fucking tragic.
But it's amazing.
And it's ours.
That means we hold it in both hands and we get to bring it to the end on OUR terms.
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I know you may have a reason or two to believe that what I'm saying is complete bullshit but trust me on this – if you're here, it's because deep down somewhere in your soul you needed someone to remind you that it's possible.
So hear me, love, when I say: IT IS POSSIBLE.
To decide right now to change it all, and to take the first step toward making that happen.
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I created The Loft to not only share more embarrassing details about me, but also to:
– Share the strategies I use to keep moving forward on the days I just want to give up completely.
– Hold space for you to process the ways you are going to take your story in the direction YOU choose.
– Challenge you to expand in body, mind, and soul, so that you can bring your highest Self through to the end.
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I don't know who you have on your team right now but I know this – you just gained this one. So let's settle in and get to know one another a bit, and see if we can't bring your story to the ovation-worthy ending you deserve.
This plant saves me everyday.
It was down to its very last leaf but began to grow back. And watching it fight to once again embody and exude the vitality buried inside of it just motivates the shit out of me.
Because I, too, found myself on my very last leaf not too long ago. I had been dying for years before, but it all finally came apart completely, and the regrowth has been rough.
And it's been beautiful.
And it's been slow.
And it's been worth the work.
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The hardest part about making mistakes is owning them.
The empowering part is when you decide to shift and keep on growing.
Call it transformation, alchemizing, a reclamation, or a rising from the ashes – when you decide to keep going and do better and choose the way your story ends, you are literally making magic.
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The world tells us we need so much in order to make things happen.
And it's all bullshit.
Everything you truly need exists within you right now.
No matter the condition of your heart, life, soul, or reputation – you possess the exact power necessary for making the one move that can change everything.
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For me, that move was reclaiming my rhythm and finding my flow.
I took myself on a killer soul quest and returned more fierce than I'd ever been. I'm still growing – that will never end – but I'm a far cry from where I used to be.
And it was that first round of deep self-reflection and inner work that helped me take the step I needed to literally shift from a place of fear and shame onto a path of courage and hope.
I know firsthand how scary this can be, and that's exactly why I'm inviting you into the madness with me.
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There were four key things I did that helped me find my flow and come back from the biggest mistake of my life. And I want to share them with you today.
I remembered my magic.
I remembered that everything I needed to grow and make this life what I want is already in me.I alchemized the mess.
I decided to NOT ignore the mistakes and the failures, but rather, turn them into the fuel I needed to move forward.I made my move.
I took one small step in the right direction.I reclaimed my life.
I decided that I was going to write the rest of my story, not let the past or anyone else do it for me.
It doesn't take much, but it's still the greatest work you'll do. And that's because it's work that is so deeply unique to you and what you need to make sense of your one amazing life.
I started The Flow Suite on the heels of a huge project. I was taking a client through a rebrand and when we were smack in the middle of edits, she suggested I take this seriously and officially launch my copywriting business.
On the surface it felt like the exact right thing to do. I'm a solid writer, and pretty passionate about helping people execute their vision. While I nodded along and held the idea for a while, deep down I began to feel the tension.
I still launched The Flow Suite, but it's not exactly a copywriting business, as you can see.
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I've only just learned what truly happened that day: I shifted from agreeing to operate in my zone of excellence to deciding to live in my zone of genius. (raise your hand if you, too, have been given new life thanks to The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks).
In English – I decided to not do what everyone else said I was good at and instead, do what I knew I couldn't live without.
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You are driven by something. In the very core of you is an essence that comes through in everything you do. You may or may not know it, but it's there.
When we are living out of tune with our personal rhythm, we starve this part of us. We essentially lose ourselves.
We get stuck.
But when we are aligned, and thriving in our rhythm, we are living life in flow,
And we are unstoppable.
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It's not difficult to get to this place, but it does take some work. The personal quest I took myself on, the one to detach from the dysfunctional patterns I was stuck in and instead reconnect with my highest Self, revealed this work
And it was only after I had begun to indulge in that work that I was able to step into this decision to make The Flow Suite what I truly wanted it to be.
Only after that work could I confidently declare what I wanted for my life.
Only after that work could I choose my Self over anything else.
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Whatever it is that you have been wanting to do, dreaming of doing, feeling the pull to do, etc..
Whatever you feel you can no longer do, have no business going after, feel too far gone to attempt, etc..
Whatever someone has told you is too far-fetched, is not realistic, or is simply something that the world doesn't really need, etc..
Whatever it is, it needs to be done simply because it's calling to you.
And anyone trying to stop or discourage you needs to be silenced simply because it's not calling to them.
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The one thing I wish I'd have known long ago was that I can trust myself.
Maybe you already get this, but if you don't, know that you aren't alone.
You are not alone in your desire to make this life what you truly want it to be. You're not alone in being unaware of the power you have to turn it all around and make things right. You're not alone in feeling scared shitless over the idea of stepping out in complete faith to see what happens.
You're in good company, love.
That voice calling up from the depths of you is the truest thing about you. Every answer is there – every dream your soul is holding and every move you need to make to get to them.
And if you haven't been listening to it, today is as good a day as any to give yourself some time to do just that. Here’s a podcast that can help you with this.
That quest I told you about a couple sections back… I'm still on it, you know.
While each challenge presented along the way needed to be conquered in order to get to the next, the final one was more of the “live it out" kind:
RECLAIM YOUR LIFE
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Because the journey back to that core part of us is never truly over.
Our great conquering comes when we learn to flow with life.
And that conquering happens every day, with each experience, and each interaction, and each opportunity to align with our highest Self as we move through them.
We don't try to resurrect “Day One.”
We put our stake in the ground on the very day we are in
and we press on from there, powered by all that came before it.
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No matter what brought you here I feel like I already know two things about you:
You want to thrive.
You are a person who believes that life is meant to be indulgent and magical and rich with experience. You know there is more to it than what we are told to see, and feel, and know. You find beauty in the things many others don't. You feel it all and you want more opportunities to do so.You want to help others feel the same.
Your love and zeal for this crazy thing called life is so great that you want others to know it the same way. You may have a business you are working on, a family you are raising up, a group you lead or facilitate, or a community you deeply value. Or some combination of this and more. Whatever the case, you have people in your orbit that you want to influence and do life with, well.
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And I know that you can totally do it.
You can bring up who you are at the core, and place it so scary close to others that they can't even help but want to keep pace and take hold of life with the same voracity.
You can reclaim your life in such a way that it spurs them to begin looking within for what's holding them back from doing the same.
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Love, there is magic in you.
And as long as you are within my reach, I am going to remind you of it.
I'm going to remind you that you have the power to trade, trash, or transform whatever stands between you, and the move that changes everything.
So dang grateful for you, and I'm forever in your corner,