Leveling Up

I just recently hit my (*gasp*) 39th birthday,  and while there are parts of me wishing that I could turn back time to 27, most of me is happy to reach level 39 at this simulated life, so to speak. And why shouldn't I be?

As I meet every new moment of now, each and every day, I am further aligning with the core of who I have always been.

I have been and will continue to shed the layers, the masks, the armor that I thought I needed to survive, to face my human brethren, to avoid conflict or to help me maintain just above the waters of life without gulping down enough to drown. I am living out a little bit of what I'm passionate about in a few places and spaces, while further expanding and exploring how I can integrate the whole into a seamless flow that is a win-win for everyone (for myself, for my family, for our community, and for the world beyond). I have now gotten strong enough to not only tread these waters of life, but to start surfing them as well. I am looking forward to when I can not only cut through them effortlessly, but influence the waves that I once thought that I had no control over.

So whether or not you've stumbled across my blog for the first time or not, welcome to a new space for me. One where I will not delete my past, for it is what brought me here, but one where every new moment is what is in the now, and in keeping in line with my original line of thought, you may join me in my lifelong quest to continue to evolve along this journey of life.

Today, we level up together. How?

First step - let's record a review of the past in some concise detail either through an inventory, list, or a short freewrite summary of first reflecting on who you are today. What are the things you love about yourself? What are the things that you find challenging? In this list, we can likely relate the summary of these things to an event (or more accurately for most, a series of events) that contributed either largely or in part to these attributes.

Second steps - let's see if we can link some of these things to each other in some category that makes sense. For example - a few different things might be linked to one particular event or source. Once you've established this (or left things as they were - whatever makes sense to you), establish importance or priority based on what you feel are logical steps to tackling any of the negatives, as well as action steps to increase your positives.

Next steps - level up. Leveling up is aggregate. Affirm and act so that every moment you meet, no matter how great or small, is a step forward and not a step back. Know that even if things seem to be a step backward, it may actually be that you're moving forward. Sometimes, we come full circle of things to learn something new about the cycles we keep living through until we finally get to that point where we can actively step up and into the upward spiral away from where we used to run in simple circles. So long as you don't allow yourself to spiral downwards, you're making progress. And the only way to really do that is to completely forget all that you've learned that helped you move forward to begin with. Even the cells of our body are new every 24 or so hours - we're literally never the same person we were yesterday. Take heart in knowing and living this.

We truly do have the power to shape our lives in a way that is a genuine expression of who we choose to be. We are not victims, no matter how much others might try to make us so. Even if we find ourselves reacting to others around us, it is a choice how we take action to express our response.

Does this mean that in order to level up we become emotionless robots? Not at all. We can fully feel and experience our emotions in response to the world around us, but as we allow ourselves to dive within, we can find constructive ways that bring forth true change and value to this world and that which we have control over in spite of the challenges that try to weigh us down and lead us to that "game over" signal.

Here's a little guided affirmation that I enjoy to help you affirm your level up:

https://youtu.be/acks33aQgBY

Intentionality: How to Make $100,000 in 5 Years

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Living intentionally. It's a thing that people say we should be doing, but what does that mean? It means that you can't blame a mistake on circumstances beyond your control - you take 100% accountability for everything in your power that brought about a thing. Does that mean that we're taking responsibility for everything, even if it had nothing to do with us? No - it just means that we are 100% honest with our assessment of the situation and our options/potential actions that were at our disposal in the moment. Anything and everything that we had any sight to choose to actualize in the moment was anything and everything we chose to actualize in that moment and as a direct result of that choice, we created the result that we achieved. New insight that contributes new information and new choices that we had no idea was possible in the past moment does not have any bearing on how we could have acted - it has bearing on future incidents and future choices and possibilities of results.

To live intentionally is taking responsibility for one's self and one's own actions, and executing a specific set of actions based on careful deliberation over the most optimal course of action. To live intentionally is to have the end result in mind and a carefully plotted out course of action that leads directly to that result, which will also contain potential alternate results based on each of the decisions along that pathway that have been considered and could potentiate the alternate results. For example: Say that I have $100,000 worth of debt that I want to pay off completely. So my desired end result is to pay off $100,000 of debt completely. What does that look like to me? First logical conclusion in my mind is that I need to have enough incoming cash flow to eventually add up to $100,000 (next preference is in the shortest time frame possible). So here comes the "straight line" - so to speak - from my start point to the end point: I must now fill in the blank space that leads me to my result. What is realistic? If I felt like I needed $100,000 in one month, from the standard of a larger percentage of people who live in our world, one would consider this an unrealistic plan of execution because the odds of stumbling upon $100,000 in one month are hung upon the appearance of a miracle or chance upon a jackpot. However, dividing $100,000 up into smaller chunks, the reality of being able paying off the debt becomes more apparent. Say we divided it up over the course of 5 years, the extra payout of just under $1,700 a month would give a definite timeline for the actualization of this goal. One could also easily imagine the other end of that coin - say I wanted to save $100,000 without the extra assistance of low interest, safe investment strategies like CD's or Money Market Savings accounts. I could easily say that it would be possible for me to do so by putting away $1,700 every month or around $57 a day for almost 5 years. Now, I have something to work with. Now, it's about me finding out the best way for me to create $57 a day to put away for the next 5 years of my life and committing to that action daily so that I can have my $100,000 in 5 years.

Now, if we know that there are bank accounts that help us compound interest, we know that date will come sooner than 5 years. With a few more tiny tools in our back pockets, the date of accomplishment of my $100,000 goal may be in as soon as 3 or 4 years. With a few small adjustments, as long as I stay committed to my 5-years or less plan, I will accomplish my goal.

It really is that simple.

I suppose the irony of that truth - the truth of how simple this formula is - is that no matter how simple the formula is, it is human nature itself that complicates the simplicity of this formula. Our fickle and unsteady nature that is so easily distracted by the next shiny object that catches our peripheral vision, or the next feeling that catches us from the darkest depths of our souls and drags us into the comforting embrace of our blankets and pillows, holding us away from the cool oxygen that would fill our lungs and lighten our bodies if we only allowed the lighter feelings and parts of humanity to pull us up and out into the world. The beast of procrastination firmly biting into our appendages and convincing us that "later" or "just this once" are the most truest things that your mind can grasp, causing you to forget about the truth that with the fulfillment of your original promise, the small act of putting that $57 down today, and the consistent action of choosing to do this each and every day will have you reach $100,000 in 5 years or less.

Wrap your brain around this in the bigger picture: How much longer are you planning on pushing out the end date at the end of that 5-year timeline? How much sooner do you feel that you need to pull that date closer? What extra work are you willing to do in between now and then so that you ARE NOT working 5 years or more to achieve your goals?

Now let's scale back these thoughts to the topic of living intentionally: Visualize your perfect life. Imagine every detail that you can clearly see about the life that you want to live. Now look at the essential starting point on how to create that life - what do you absolutely need at the minimum to start creating that perfect life? How can you start today, and what daily actionables do you need to commit to in order to achieve that goal in a specific time frame?

What's stopping you from starting? Booking.com