A Catch Up

This past year has taught me a lot amount about myself and where I would like to go in life. Starting off the year by leaving a career and selling the majority of my possessions to travel across the country and ending the year with beginning a new job and buying my first house, these past twelve months have consisted of tremendous personal growth.

For far too long I allowed my professional life to be a roadblock to my personal life. By fearing the failure of stepping outside my comfort zone, I was making no progress in my life. The journey to discover myself is not a quick, painless process and the last few years have shown me that there is only many more years to go. What I have discovered was only because I had been brave enough to step outside of that comfort zone. 

As an alcoholic, I struggled with identity for more than a decade. Scared to admit what I really struggled from, I never found out who I really was. I allowed myself to be my biggest road block. Uncovering my issues with alcohol were truly only the tip of the iceberg. There was so many more aspects of my life that needed addressing and over time I began to work on each, one at a time. 

I began applying the method that I used to stop smoking to each other area of my life that I wanted to change. I discovered that this method was very similar to the method outlined in Atomic Habits by James Clear. Taking small steps and building on them until the new life was as much of a habit as the old one.

Most recently I have been focusing on career and what it means to me. A wise man once told me that you can either do what you love, or work a job that allows you to do what you love. In my drunken days I believed I was doing what I loved, and the truth back then was that I was. However, as I sobered up I realized that I was not happy serving alcohol and after switching to a working in a restaurant that didn’t serve alcohol I realized I was simply not happy serving at all. This career was not only triggering but I felt it held me back from living the life I truly wanted to be living. 

So why share this? Part of it is updating family and friends on my current state. The other part is more important to me; to inspire someone else to step outside of their own comfort zone. What is something that you have been avoiding because it’s scary to do something out of the norm? Maybe it is running that 5k, or writing a book, or starting a new career. What roadblocks are you putting in your way to achieve this? If you wanted to start a blog, get that website and start writing and posting material. Stop putting off till tomorrow what you could be doing today! 

No one starts out as an expert at anything, and most of us start out horrible at what we want to do, it takes work to get better, and that work happens when we start showing up consistently and doing it. 

You don’t have to change your whole life in an instant,

start with one small step to get the

momentum going.