Need an adrenaline rush? How about walking away from your career? Or planning and being married in 30 days? Or selling your home and moving across country with a dream and a dime?
If you’re really nuts, try all three together. If you need a change. If you are ready to dive in. If you are stagnant, stuck, or relatively uninspired; and If you are not working to express your talents each day (personally or professionally) then I highly recommend the above scenario – as irrational as it may sound. Dive in. Take the plunge. Now. I certainly can’t promise you a perfect ride, but I can suggest there it as a more effective route to finding your flow. All that is required is to truly “let it go” and take the plunge in unearthing and discovering the unknown. A huge commitment, and somewhat frightnening endeavor, yes. You might be scared out of your mind, but most likey your soul will be happy in the long run.
It is exactly 2578.1 miles from Pasadena California to Sarasota Florida. My husband and I drove the extensive distance in August 2015. In addition to moving from one literal coast to another on Aug 12th, we married on June 13th, sold our home on June 27th and I retired from my post after almost two decades working in higher education administration on August 4th – with NO job in its place. Crazy right? Yes. And no.
It’s taken me six months to fully articulate why I believe this transition has been so profound for me. When we left Pasadena, I walked away from all expectations, commitments outside of anything personal. I gratefully relinquished the pressures of giving my time away and reacquainted myself with new boundaries and new intentions; starting with those for myself. Sounds selfish maybe. But the better I am to me, the better I can be to the people and community around me. It has been a retreat for my soul to be in our new city because I have had the opportunity to devote my time to my own soul work and creativity again. I have also surrendered to the notion that I “might not know what’s next” and have allowed things to happen in absence of my own control. I’m a Leo so walking away from control is a bit (understatement) uncomfortable, yet, this embrace of the ‘unknown’ has allowed me to step into flow.
In the past, I have not necessarily chosen the moments that have incited the “adrenaline rush” similar to what I experienced during the summer of 2015. And this most recent rush, enacted by the distinct choice to take the leap, was full of thrilling, unnerving, exciting, moments – along with bittersweet “goodbyes” and the warmth of getting to know new family. The rush has finally transitioned into what I can only describe as being in my own flow – being authentically happy, organically motivated and grateful for the ability to be mindful and present and aware enough to live in my appreciation of each day.
I leapt. I jumped. I dove.
When it’s your time, I hope you will do the same.
