run

Run Into The Tornado

We all have moments when we can either run and hide, or, run into the tornado. When we get an opportunity to go after something we want, or create the opportunity to reach a goal or achievement, we can let fear take over and hide, or just run full steam ahead and take it. Before walking this path I often let my fear of the unknown, fear of what you might think of me and my goals, and fear of not getting what I wanted stop me, stop me from trying new things, stop me period. As a result I would get angry, angry that others ran and got the things I wanted for myself, angry that I didn’t try, or angry that my life “was so difficult” that I couldn’t run and get what I wanted. But I could have, I stopped myself, I let fear win, and when I stopped doing that and started to run anyway, even full of fear, even if I didn’t get what I wanted I still won because sometimes the winning is just in the journey itself and not in the result, so run straight in, don’t look back and go get what’s yours, no matter what that is.

I like the visual of a tornado because that what it seems like many times. You’re running towards this whirling, grey, unstable beast the size of a gas station and you don’t know what’s going to happen, but just do it. Fear of the unknown stops us from doing so many things. When we set out to try something new, or go after what we want, we don’t know the outcome, we know what we want the outcome to be, but we never know exactly what’s going to happen, or if it’s going to happen just the way we envisioned it, in fact, it probably won’t. So knowing that, we use that an excuse not to chase after those things, but we should. We should always run after the things that inspire us, challenge us, excite us, nourish us, support us, and just make us feel good, go after all of those things, and by go I mean run, go get them, grab them, work for them, and never make excuses for them. When you get a no, still go, when you trip and fall, keep going, when you think you can’t go anymore, keep going, I didn’t say running into the tornado was going to be easy, that you wouldn’t get knocked down, but when you get there, in the eye of the storm and everything is moving around you, and you are just still, in the place that makes you happy, or having reached the goal you wanted, that you worked for, all of it, everything will seem so small. We build up the excuses, the reason not to in our heads, we stop ourselves from reaching our potential before we even start, so don’t give yourself the chance to, just run, run with purpose, run with passion, run with the intention to win!

Now running with total wild abandon will sometimes get us what we want, sometimes it’s just the act of running at all that is the victory, but typically there’s some footwork that needs to happen before we strap on those sneakers and get ready to bolt. It’s about setting up your foundation to succeed, all of the things I’ve talked about in my previous blogs, loving yourself, knowing and believing you deserve good, surrounding yourself with good people who love and support you, making your intentions known, asking for what you want and then diving in and getting it! Go get what’s yours, and what you want, take it, not matter how stormy the journey is, if it’s what you want it’s work fighting for.

SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you go after what you want in life? What stops you? How can you stop that from stopping you? Is what stops you a real obstacle? Or are you creating one so you don’t have to try? Or so you fail? Do you set yourself up to fail so you can continue the narrative that you are a bad person, or don’t get to have good things in your life? If you do, only you have the power to stop that story, and you can stop it. Today, take control of your story and your life, run into the tornado and go after your hopes, dreams, goals, go get them, you deserve to have the things you have worked for and have had the courage to go after, go get them all, and know that in doing so you are giving yourself the gift of trying, of fighting for you, and of honoring yourself. SLAY on.

S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you

F.E.A.R. – Run Or Rise?

F.E.AR. has two meanings, F**k Everything And Run, or Face Everything And Rise. I know before I walked this path the first one was my go-to method of operation, and if I didn’t run, I fought, it was almost better that I ran. It was not great. My whole life was run by fear, fear of not getting what I wanted, fear of having what I did have taken away, fear I was missing out, fear I would be found out, just fear, a thousands forms of fear. I didn’t realize until I started to get better, and started to not let fear run my life, how much control it had over me, how much it dictated what my decisions were going to be, how much it held me back from living my life and connecting with people.

You see, fear isn’t real. Fears are lies we tell ourselves, or those voices that talk to us, that bullshit committee that tries to keep us isolated and alone, fears are not facts, and as SLAYERS we make our decisions based on the facts, not the fear of them. We also use fears as excuses, excuses to not try something, or to take responsibility for something, or to not step out of our comfort zone, but fear isn’t our friend, it’s not protecting us, it’s holding us back, it’s preventing us from living the life we want for ourselves, and the life we can have if only we stop listening to our fears. Because when we do conquer them we do rise, we rise above them, and we rise above the place where fears held us back, and down, we move forward, and upward.

For me it was about contrary action, of acknowledging the fear, trying to identify where it was coming from, and then doing the opposite of what I wanted to do. Of doing what I knew to be right, or just, or what was going to move me forward. And that was scary, but it felt so good when I would it, when I would push through and realize that it wasn’t really that bad, or, had turned out better than I had, well, feared. I started to see how my fears weren’t real, they weren’t the truth, that by me walking through them I was becoming stronger, and clearer, and I was learning to trust myself more, and in doing that I felt a lot less fear.

Fear now for me is a sign I’m not taking care of myself, because when I am I have trust and faith that things are unfolding as they are supposed to and when I know that I’ve done the footwork, everything I can do to reach a goal. Settle, or make a situation clear, then I shouldn’t be having fear, fear is an old concept or idea that no longer serves me, an old behavior that pops up which I know to be irrational and not true, so the question I now ask myself is, why is it popping up, what do I need to address? And, that is a lot more manageable than the unmanageability of fear I lived with every day for most of my life. Now, I have tools to work through that fear, to know it isn’t real, and to not let it hurt me. Today I know that if I walk through my fear I will rise and by doing so I can help others do the same, to lead by example that we don’t need to live in fear, an example that was shown to me by countless people when I was ready to see it. We walk tall as SLAYERS, we don’t stand in our own way, we grab our swords and our shields and we trudge forward, through the fire, because on the other side of that fire, is paradise, a paradise where we take our life and power back. SLAY on!

SLAY OF THE DAY: What does fear mean to you? How does it come up in your life? Does it control your decisions and actions? Why? Why do you let it? What are you afraid of? Are those rational fears? Are they fears you can take action against and defeat? How so? Why aren’t you taking action against your fears? What’s stopping you? It’s time, SLAYER, that you rise above, that you look your fears in the eye and say no more, it’s time for you to walk through those fears and take your life back, it’s time to Face Everything And Rise.

S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you