I love sounds that make my body move in a way that stops me from thinking, and I love it when other people make me playlists so I'm going to do that for you! This new series will feature a playlist every Tuesday, one that fits a particular mood/feeling/time of year/place WHATEVER! Today's playlist is Head High Mid July, what I like to listen to on the loooong early morning drive to the beach for surfing and on the drive to Swell Taco after surfing.
NOW /
Photo courtesy of Laura Whitwer of SassyPants Aerial
Stop waiting. The longer you wait, the more excuses you will find to not do the thing you want to do. Even if you feel like you need a little more practice, if you need a little more money, if you need a little more gumption, just try for now and see what happens. I'm a big believer in the school of doing. Perfect is near impossible, starting is not.
You're never ready.
There's never enough money.
It's never going to be a perfect time.
Three years ago I had been toying with the idea of starting a yoga practice for a while, but I didn't have the guts to go. I thought I needed to be more flexible and in better shape and drinking more green juice to be welcome in a yoga studio, which is THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING EVER. You go to yoga to learn how to do all of those things in a way that works for you. I went on a whim with a groupon thinking I'd finish out the unlimited month and move on to my next exercise regime. What I didn't expect was to find an entire community full of love and a spirituality within myself. If I had waited for the "right time" or for the "right body" to start practicing, I'm sure I would've missed out on so much of the light that has come into my life.
We can apply this in so many instances, from getting the laundry done, to making that big (scary) career change, even to having a child.
So go. Sign up for the circus class (see above). Take a walk around the block. Throw the laundry in. Move out of state (out of country?!) for a minute. Invite that person you want to be friends with out for coffee even though new friends seem like the scariest thing. Book the flight. Be vulnerable for a bit if it helps you get to where you want to be. Live YOUR life. Please start living your dream, because if not now then when will you?
Nothing ever gets done until you start, so what are you waiting for?
xx
Audrey
Plan for Change /
a version of myself in 2014, who would be horrified to know that in the future I would have a change of priorities that would take a way a good chunk of my back flexibility
Change is constant, that is the only guarantee. You can plan your life down to the minute for the next forty years, just don't fall so in love with that plan that you'll be heartbroken when it doesn't work out.
For the first time in years I laid out a plan for myself that extended beyond the week in front of me. It was a three month budget of time and money to figure out how to financially set myself up for the summer ahead, which I'd hoped to take time off and spend most of traveling. Within a week of setting that plan I had unexpectedly quit my job and my entire income stream changed, along with my free time. I spent 24 hours crushed because I had self sabotaged my plan and my goals with one tiny (giant?) move. I slept on it one more time and realized that I had nothing to be upset about, I can still reach the goals I want to (though it might not be in the same timeframe I'd hoped for) and live the life I had been planning on if I adjusted a few things. I had a plan that I thought was perfect. The only thing I forgot to factor into my plan is that change will happen when you least expect it to, even if you think you are in control of it.
Take a deep breath. Don't be stuck on what no longer is. Move forward and look at the challenge as a way to grow, to learn how to change with the world around you. Keep going, because your surroundings aren't waiting for you to catch up.
xx
Audrey