So I woke up this morning. No, for reals—I WOKE UP THIS MORNING. I hadn’t realized it until now—like right now now—that following my dreams was keeping me from following my dreams. Do I sound crazy? It’s 5:33am as I write this so that’s quite possible, but I don’t think so. Stay with me here.
For those of you who haven’t already unfollowed me on Facebook (#sorrynotsorry, a girl’s got a dream umkayyyyy), you know that I’ve started coaching and am in the process of building my business. Your first session is free if you book in the next eight days, BTW! (Shameless plug: success!) Among my many dreams, one-on-one coaching is a passion of mine and I recently decided to stop being a giant coward and just do it. (Side note: Step #1 in following your dreams—JUST START. Somewhere. Anywhere.) So I woman-ed up and put myself out there as a coach, and it has been ridiculously awesome.
AND . . . it has been stressful/scary/holy sh*t balls AF.
Quick back story: I have been strongly advised business-wise to have my personal blog and my coaching blog separate. Your audience doesn’t need to hear about your struggles starting a business. They are the people you want as clients, so they need to see that you are legit. They need to trust you. And your clients also don’t need the dirty details about your personal life. This was a tough one for me. While I deeply value advice from others who have succeeded in business, I also deeply value myself and all that I stand for. I am a coach with a mission to inspire authenticity among other badassery, and I am committed to walking my talk every step of the way. I believe I am a great coach. I also believe that I can be a great coach and struggle with life, including the bumpy road of entrepreneurship. Humans are humans are humans are humans and I am a human, Amen.
I started my blog to connect with people. I started sharing my story so that others would feel less alone. And I kept on going because it was working and we were connecting and I (and hopefully you, too) was freeing myself from the shame of hiding, pretending, perfectionism, comparison and the often inauthentic nature of social media. My desire continues to be to connect on a real, human level and to love each other and ourselves exactly as we are by being who we are whatever that looks like. And that does not change just because I am starting a business and I am looking for clients. Hell-to-the-nah, brah. I promise you forever and always to be my true, authentic self, to be a woman of my word and to keep on keepin’ it real so that you never feel alone. And above all, so that I continue to stay in love with myself, because to me, the courage to be real is a key ingredient to self-love. So one blog. One me. BOOM. #endrant
Now back to the holy sh*t balls AF of my new business venture. The coaching part is rad. I love the gorgeous humans who have entrusted me with their stories, and I absolutely looooove being of service to those looking to live more fully. I love making videos and sharing my passion for life, and I love writing and connecting through my words. What I don’t love? Including but not limited to: marketing (I think I just threw up in my mouth a little), social media strategy, to do or not to do FB/Insta ads, all the FB/Insta ads that pop up incessantly telling me how to grow my business because I should be thinking about how to grow my business all the damn time, unsolicited advice, solicited advice that feels out of alignment and therefore confusing, comparison, blah bah blah, barf barf barf, mehhhhhhhhhhhhh. OK, this is boring. The end.
So rather than focusing on doing what I love doing—writing, videos, connecting and coaching—which essentially are my dreams happening in the present, I have been spending my time worrying about how to make my dreams come true, something I have somehow convinced myself is a giant abstract thing that has yet to happen. Oh heyyyy, Jamie. Your dreams are waiting for you to unfold in the present moment whenever you’re ready. Ok, cool. Thanks. Noted! Hence today’s wake-up call.
If there is one thing for sure, it’s that I sure as sh*t am following my dreams. If there’s another thing for sure, it’s that I am spending way too much time trying to figure out how to do it rather than focusing on what really matters—the why.
So why am I doing this work in the first place? To be of service. To connect with others. To unite in our humanness. To inspire authenticity. Self-love. PERSONAL FREEDOM. If I remain focused on that, the how will happen naturally. Without fail, when I stop worrying about how to get more clients and just let my light shine, a new online booking comes though. Every. Single. Time. My only job is to stay inspired, follow my heart, share my story, be my message, stand in my truth and SHINE ON, and the rest will fall into place exactly as it’s meant to. And that, my friend, is the ultimate freedom.
The Universe has plans for us far beyond our wildest dreams. So dream big, show up and stay there, but don’t forget to also let go. Don’t let following your dreams keep you from following your dreams.
“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” —Rumi