the 100th
the inaugural everyday magic lilacs (first and current banner photo on the homepage!) to celebrate the 100th!
Wow. This is everyday magic’s one hundredth published post!!!
I am so excited. I have a goal to publish at least 300 blogs this year (by the end of 2023), and I’m committed to aiming for 25/month. This will be the 24th April post and the 100th post (!!!) overall.
(Don’t worry, this is going somewhere; the point of this post is not going to be blog metrics or strictly numbers or meeting deadlines…)
I’m excited because I had a dream, and I was scared, and I started anyway. I’m excited about how far it’s already come since then. I’m excited for the future.
I wanted to write. I already wrote a lot (though this has ensured I write far more now than ever before), but I didn’t share it. The sharing was the scary part. Hitting publish is intimidating, especially the first time. After I’ve hit publish, choosing to tell people about it and share it more broadly and let my words be seen is even bigger! (Sharing it around, email list, social media, SEO tweaks, etc — otherwise I could probably just keep jolly publishing here forever with very little skin in the game and not many people knowing.)
I want to publish a book, and I want to connect with people through words. That doesn’t happen if you don’t write and share.
Nothing you want happens if you don’t take action.
And then keep going and keep taking action — endlessly, ceaselessly, consistently, compoundingly, faithfully… and watch what happens.
I’ve only just started. (Four months is a blip, really.) And yet, look! One hundred posts! What an exciting milestone.
Tony Robbins says we overestimate what we can do in one year and underestimate what we can do in five or ten or thirty. Imagine if you have a dream, you’re scared — but you’re determined and committed, so you start, you take action, you keep moving forward through your fears and through all obstacles, and you don’t stop. Imagine. You just keep trying things. You experiment. If your first experiment doesn’t work out, try another one. If it flops, you pivot. If you fail, you get back up. There is no shame in this game, and you don’t have any imaginary standards, timeline, opinions of others, or shoulds that you must live up to. There is only what you want, where you are now, where you are going, and what you need and are willing and ready to do to get there.
KEEP GOING.
DO NOT GIVE UP.
DO NOT PHONE IT IN ON YOUR LIFE, ON YOUR DREAMS, ON WHO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE.
Believe in yourself.
Try something else!
Start right now. Every moment of your life is an opportunity; so what are you waiting for?
Sure, it’s going to be hard. Powerful journeys are really challenging. Transformation takes everything you’ve got. The best things in your life require some effort, investment, time, and sacrifice. Life is tricky.
You can do hard shit. It’s not meant to be easy! You aren’t doing anything wrong, you just need to get up, embrace the challenge, move through it, and find your joy and success on the other side of that process, repeatedly, day after day.
You were made for this. You were built for this life. You are designed for your dreams. You are capable of everything you are imagining. You can do it if you absolutely refuse to quit.
I got a gym PR on my back squat this morning. My early morning gym time before work is a commitment I make to myself, my health, my mind and body, and a routine I keep because I want both the future and the present it gives me. It’s a routine that makes my life better and helps keep me on my path.
I was dragging today and feeling discouraged and doubting whether or not I could pull off my squat top single in the weight range I was hoping to be in. There was fear.
Courage isn’t the absence of fear. Brave people aren’t brave because they’re never afraid. Courage is feeling fear and moving forward anyway. Bravery is letting something else be stronger than your fears. Are you letting fear run the show and be your boss, or are you using it as a tool and companion, and then quieting it when necessary so you can do what you’re meant to do anyway?
This morning, I had a lot of apprehension about my lift, and I was pep-talking myself and drilling myself in preparation to get under the barbell and give it my best. I told myself, (yes, I know this is nerdy — I love powerlifting! — and it’s also “woo woo,” but bear with me because it’s crucial for lifting and crucial for life!) so I told myself,
It’s going to be heavy. It’s supposed to be heavy!! You WANT this to be heavy. You can do it. You can lift that shit. All you have to do is stand up. You stand up, no matter what what. Get up! Give it everything you’ve got. Don’t get in your head, don’t even think about the number, just do it. Don’t stop, do not stop, no matter how long it takes or hard it feels, no matter how long you’re stuck in the dip, just grind through it! Push through and keep pushing, and don’t give up. I don’t care if you’re stuck down there longer than you want to be! You can do it, and this is true in lifting and life: when you aren’t getting the result you want and things feel hard and heavy, you can give up. OR you can hold, you can stick with it, you can grind, grind, grind and STAY, and keep pushing, and then you’ll reach the other side. You’ll stand all the way up, you’ll finish the lift, you’ll get what you were working for, you will rise to the top. Let’s do that today. Do not quit. Rise to the top.
(I also told myself the standard, you know, “You own this barbell, easy shit, light weight, make this weight your bitch,” 😂 but this is less applicable for my current point. 😜 Oh, the conversations and thoughts in my head in the gym…)
I finished the lift. It was at the edge of my strength limits, I think, and I got it, and it was a much higher weight than I expected for today. I was stoked, and I really needed to work through and face the big challenge today and feel that high of hard work, satisfaction, and success.
There are going to be dips. There are going to be obstacles. The way you talk to yourself in those moments really matters. It matters what you do next. How you respond. Are you getting in your head and letting the fear stop you? Are you going to crumble at the bottom? Or are you going to stay with it and believe in yourself and give it everything you’ve got?
We move forward with love and passion.
It’s the only way.
Remind yourself: I WAS MADE FOR THIS — THIS IS WHAT I’M TRAINING FOR.
And embrace everything before you — knowing the challenges make you better, knowing it’s just as it’s meant to be — with love for your life and love for what you do, passion for how you live, who you are, what you’re building, and the dreams in your heart.
Move forward courageously, letting that love and determination be your fuel.
Then don’t give up.
Watch what happens.
Start.
Continue.
Thrive.
Happy 100 posts! Thank you for being here and for being you. Thanks for reading. ❤
