If I could go back to two years ago, when I was shaking in my boots before releasing the first three posts on my blog, I would tell that version of me to take one second. To let the fear seep in. To recognize that feeling as one she would face over and over again. To get comfortable with that feeling because it was what she would feel every time she was on the cusp of something great.
Today, I celebrate the second anniversary of my blog, in a Pinch. It is no secret that I LOVE writing and storytelling as much as I love air. This space has been my safe haven and happy place for two full years, but truly, the people I have met, the connections I have made, and the community we have fostered has been my favorite part about all of this.
I started this blog because I felt there were a million, billion things about life I experienced on a day-to-day basis that went under the radar. I had so many thoughts and observations about myself, others, and events at large that deserved to be talked about and given limelight. All of the inner dialogues I had with myself and rants I had with one-off people felt too significant to just exist in a siloed conversation that would inevitably fade over time.
More so, I know what I feel and what I go through are not just relative to me. We are all interconnected in more ways than we know, and it does a disservice to all of us if we don’t share our humanness with each other.
The entire purpose of my blog, of my writing, is to help people feel validated in exactly who they are at this point in time. I have chosen to share these anecdotes because I strongly believe my life is a vehicle to transport important messages. I don’t care about sharing the hardships and the downfalls and the missteps because somewhere in those moments live lessons that others can learn from. That is far more important to me than feeling shame about any of my experiences.
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Everything I have stepped into over the last two years has stemmed from my ability to challenge myself, face my fears, and push my limits. I simply would not be who I am today if I decided to wait another day to start my blog. It’s that cut and dry.
So, today, I’m deciding to do it all over again. To go back to those feelings I felt on October 18, 2020 when I was getting ready to push “publish”. I’m honoring the fearlessness I stepped into on that day and proving to myself that I can do it again.
Over the course of the next month or so, I am dedicating myself to completing a personal expansion practice that encompasses both fearful elements I need to conquer and challenges I need to endure. Although there are a few items within the practice that scare me to no end, I also know that’s where the growth is.
I plan to document my progress and share anything I learn, overcome, and feel with you here on in a Pinch. I also invite you to create your own personal expansion practice based on what you find fear-inducing as well as what you want to challenge yourself to do. This is a great way to shake up your routine, add some new color into your life, learn about yourself, and step into your next chapter. Doing it alongside me might also help keep you accountable and motivated.
So, without further ado, here is what I will be doing over the course of the next month.
Taylor’s Personal Expansion Practice:
Celebrate a small accomplishment
Go out to dinner by myself
Start a car-talk series
Sign up for an improv class
Call someone and tell them what I admire most about them
Reach out to someone I don’t know to meet up in person (or virtual if they’re far away)
Visualize my ideal life everyday for the next 30 days
Work on a positivity focus for the next 30 days
Help someone else overcome one of their fears
To be announced!😶
I will explain each practice more in depth as I do it to give you more insight into each one. You might not full understand all of them right now, but don't worry, I won't leave you hanging. Lots more to come on each one of them as I complete them in the near future, so stay tuned for the blogs to come!
And to start off, in tandem with today’s significance, I am choosing to celebrate an accomplishment that I owe so much of where I am to.
If you don’t follow in a Pinch on Instagram, or you didn’t see my post from a few months ago, I will link it here for you to read. This pretty much sums up why I bought a cake to celebrate in a Pinch’s 2nd birthday.
To build off of that though, I’ve also been thinking about the fact that we celebrate the accomplishments of people from the past every year. Oftentimes, we take days off of work, plan vacations, and get together with family and friends because someone (or a group of people) did something so heroic or praiseworthy we decided to dedicate an entire day to them.
Yet, how often do we celebrate our own accomplishments? Even more so, who is going to celebrate them if we ourselves don’t?
I believe in cheering yourself on every step of the way, whether you’re using a megaphone or patting yourself on the back. You have to learn how to recognize your accomplishments and celebrate your small wins. We’ve learned how to believe in and celebrate fictitious characters (Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc.), yet we’re rarely taught how to save some of that magic for ourselves.
All this goes to say, you don’t need a birthday or a promotion or an engagement ring to buy yourself a cake and celebrate something that feels meaningful to you.
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To wrap this up, I want to say, this personal expansion practice is really about understanding that the decision to change your reality isn’t waiting on anything but you. There is never going to be a good time when everything aligns, the skies open up, and someone taps you on the shoulder and says, “It’s time.” You have to be that person for yourself. You have to decide the time is now.
Please know you are worth everything that’s nerve-racking, fear-inducing, and challenging. Everything you want is on the other side of that feeling. You and I both know that.
“I-don’t-wants hold the key to your success.” - Robert Kiyosaki
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