In the Spring of 2008, I was guided to leave my job and venture out on my own. No trust fund, no sugar daddy and nothing concrete to go on. A friend of mine who was privy to the journey leading up to this bold move made a revealing remark about six months after I had left my job. In a conversation where I was asking her why she wasn't pursuing a great idea she had, she retorted, "Well, when you quit your job you knew what you were going to do."

Guess what, I didn't - and she had known this.

A fascinating phenomenon had occurred. As time had gone on, she had forgotten the uncertainty, the unknowing, and the blind steps of faith. She beautifully modeled what I, myself, and countless others love to exercise in our minds. The ability of making up stories as to why someone else is living the life they want and why we aren't.

Stories: AKA Limiting Beliefs

Look, like you, I was raised with many a limiting belief. I was told that marriage is “hard”. That you can’t just manifest what you want. That positive thinking was secular and humanistic. I was told that he or she was successful because they came from money, connections, or were lucky.

And for a while it was easy to ride that train. I mean it offered explanations for why things weren’t going the way my gut was telling me they could go. This is why I understood my friend’s impulse to jump that train. It had momentum, safety in numbers, and no requirement for self-exploration.

Yet, having lived, worked, and schooled in seven different states, I've met a lot of people. And you know what? I've not met a single person who has actualized a dream, idea, or vision, and reports that when they began, they knew exactly how it would come to fruition. Not a single one.

First Step (only) Required

If you are waiting to live your life the way you envision, follow a dream, pursue a passion, but haven't taken that first step because you think you are supposed to know the next two, three and fourth steps... know that this is an excuse.

Hear me -- if you aren't living the life you want because you think that those that you admire knew exactly how to make it happen for themselves, you are making an enormous mistake. Do not use the excuse of not knowing the next step as your reason for not following your path. If you are not where you want to be, it is because of you. Isn't that great?! Are you hearing the freedom and possibilities? The get out of your own self-imposed jail message?!

Story Benefits

Whoa . . . . I can feel some slamming of the brakes. I know – part of the ego mind doesn’t want to know this and does not think this is great at all!. My mind did and does the same thing. It wants to keep you safe. So it reminds you that anyone who is happy, pleased, content, joyful, successful (based on whatever your definition is) had it easy. It benefits you to think that they were genetically different, had a less dysfunctional upbringing, or had one magic factor that made it all work for them . . . and, frequently unspoken, why it won't work for you.

That's the little secret. The belief you tell yourself that you are different, overlooked, forgotten, scarred, not rich enough, not tall enough, too shy, don't have the most supportive significant other, aren't meant to be happy . . . whatever the excuse du jour is, it stands in the way of you taking that first step.

But here’s the bottom line, Pinkies. You can get up and get out there and be who you are meant to be. You are not stupid, deficient or wrong because you don't know all the ins and outs of making something happen.

Please know that I am not advocating that everyone quit their job or write a book. I am speaking to the stirrings we get each day, to reach out, connect, laugh, jump in a rain puddle, watch the sunset, paint, dance, take a cooking class, draw, hug, journal, smile. I am asking you to join me in taking responsibility to realize and acti on the everyday opportunities we are given to be in our greatness, whether it's to feel more peace or to produce a blockbuster movie.

Did you know that Paulo Coelho wrote to Pinkies? He did, and he said, "Dear Pinkie, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

Here’s the Pinkie challenge -- give life a chance to support your greatness. Ask yourself: what and where have you invested in your stories so you don’t have to take that first step? What would writing a different story look like? And what would a first step look like?

Seeing you writing your new Pink Story!
Audrey