Ep #91: Navigating Resistance and the Messy Middle

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, until it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the time and place that the tide will turn,” Harriet Beecher Stowe.

I’ve been having a lot of conversations this week about wo to navigate the difficult and sometimes dark terrain of the messy middle of the creative process. Sometimes, we can see that big vision and that big dream so clearly we could almost touch it, almost taste it. Sometimes, we are so on fire when we start our journey and maybe for about a quarter of the way or halfway in.

And then, something happens. Either there is an obstacle so daunting, it doesn’t seem that you could ever overcome it. Or, you just get off track, you lose steam. You become interested in something else. But in any event, you don’t continue on. You don’t follow through. You don’t cross that finish line. And you’re leaving something inside of you undone.

So, listen in and use this podcast as a way to make a plan for those times and also keep it handy. Keep in in your arsenal, in your back pocket, for those times when you do get into a tight place and it seems the world is against you, when it seems you can’t hang on a minute longer. I know, if you can continue on, sometimes that is the most super-human thing you can do, to continue on when it seems belief is hung out. Do that because that is truly the place and the time that the tide will turn.

You are listening to The Art School Podcast; a show for artists and creatives who want to become the next greatest version of themselves. Learn how to cultivate an extraordinary way of being and take the mystery out of making money, and the struggle out of making art. Here is your host, master certified life coach, artist, and former lawyer, Leah Badertscher.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to anther episode of The Art School Podcast. I hope this finds you continuing to be safe and well. I’m recording this at the end of July. So, again, 2020, we are still in the midst of a global pandemic and I know things are shifting.

And so, I’ve been taking extra time with the content that I’m putting out into the world, both here on the podcast, Facebook lives, among my community, to think about how I can provide a sanctuary, an oasis, a place to refocus and to keep your strength and to keep building that resilience that will help you continue to build your dreams and create and contribute in the world, and also create meaning and beauty along the way.

So, in keeping with that, this week I’ve been thinking particularly about my mastermind participants. We kick off next week, August 3^rd, and I’ve spent time – this has been fun – thinking about how can I exceed what I already know should be their very high expectations for this group?

So, I’ve got some magical surprises brewing, including this week too, I shipped off to everyone huge gorgeous bouquets of flowers. Because a burst of beauty and flowers goes a long, long way. And everybody’s muse comes alive with that, even if you think your not a flower person, your muse disagrees.

And so, that has been fun. And thinking about what is also down the road for this really extraordinary and special group. I have been deep in creating the next workshop for our summer workshop series. It’s the art and skill of 10-timesing your investment. So, you might be familiar with that concept from management or business strategy books or gurus or online marketing dudes.

And there’s some overlap or similarities in my content and approach. But there’s also a great amount of difference. And I guess what we have in common is that I share the conviction that you can and should aim to 10-times your financial investment in your own growth and dreams if that is something that is important to you.

Being able to create prosperity and abundance for yourself is absolutely an integral part of the creative process. And I want to remove any stigma or shame from people’s minds around doing that. And I want to take the lid off, the ceiling off what they think they are capable of creating, the kind of wealth, the kind of opportunities, the kind of life, as well as being very mindful and focused on honoring their values along the way and honoring what they want the process to be.

Because to me, if you run yourself into the ground and violate your own values in the process of creating a dream, if that dream includes a certain amount of financial freedom and abundance, then that really isn’t the dream. The true dream includes a respect for and an alignment with what your values are and what you want your process to be and who you want to become in the process.

So, I’m very excited about that workshop. That workshop is available to anybody that enrolled in the Art School Fall already, and also to my mastermind. And also, I will be sharing some of those concepts and ideas on future podcasts, and possibly considering doing a free training about that. So, to stay in the loop with that, make sure you are on my mailing list. And to do that, just go to www.leahcb.com. Sign up, and then I will be sure to send out any information about upcoming free events, coaching classes, webinars, trainings that I will be offering.

This is a concept I have mentioned on the podcast before and that I have taught in previous Art Schools, shared and mentored private clients through this process. And I think it is an essential life skill. It is something that I talk to my children about. I really think it’s something that we should all learn. It should be a basic required course, just like I took typing from Mr. Higby, who was adorable. And I rally did learn how to type very well, following that little green linker thing. So now, you know about what era I’m in.

I think skills like this should be an essential part of our education system, skills that empower us financially and I think also utilize our creativity, which then empowers and facilitates our freedom to contribute out highest contribution.

So, while I was in the depths of thinking through the material, the curriculum for this upcoming workshop about 10-timesing your investment, 10-timesing any investment – a little sidebar, I will say, you can even 10-times what you think currently was a bad investment. And that, my friends, is magic. That is where artistry comes in. because, to the true artist, all of life is material.

So, I digress a little bit there and come back to, while I was doing that, I saw that one of my Rockstar masterminder students who has already been diving into the work and running with it just from the classes that we have had through the summer workshop series, had written a post on Facebook. And I asked her if it was okay if I shared this, and she said, by all means, of course, please do.

So, she wrote, “I encourage anyone who has a dream to check out www.leahcb.com. The fall Art School or the Art School Mastermind are coming up and they will be amazing. I am just dipping my toe in her summer series and cannot wait to see what happens when we really dig deep in the mastermind. And guess what – Leah teaches you that if you are going to make a financial investment in something, create a plan for how you want that investment to grow. And let’s just say, it has blown my mind at how I have already seen a return on my investment and we truly haven’t even started yet. I can’t wait to see what happens next.” Marci, from Nebraska.

And also, a little back story about Marci, she has been doing some amazing work this summer. And truly, I would like for her to expound on what she has already done to make that investment grow. So, I am hoping she will agree to be on an upcoming podcast interview and she can share some of those stories herself with you.

I also had another amazing Art Schooler write in with a beautiful testimonial and it also very relevant to today’s topic, about how to keep going through those times when it seems like everything is dark and difficult and you can’t hang on.

She writes, “These podcasts have been a lifesaver for me personally. In times of craziness and overwhelm, during very dark periods of depression and as we navigate the uncertainties currently confronting us, Leah’s voice has allowed me to feel focused, supported, and healed. While each podcast is interesting or important in one way or another, the podcast on the art of having a bad day is compulsory listening on those bad days.

Every time I listen to it, I feel I am able to shift in powerful ways out of the negativity, in harnessing the bad day as an invitation to show up as my best self, to think greater than I feel. Thank you, Leah, for your presence in our lives and for helping us maintain balance, despite all the confusion happening around us. And thanks also for not ignoring what is happening around us by helping us have the courage to engage with it.” Amira Osman, architect, author, artist, professor.

And Amira listens in and took place in a previous Art School from South Africa. So, I am truly honored by her words and honored by everyone who is listening around the world during these times. And I do want to provide very meaningful tools during these times because I think if we can stay focused, we can adapt, we can come through for ourselves and for one another. I believe we’re going to be able to find resources and creativity and potential within us that truly down the road, the world, all of us can be better for this.

And I also know, talk is cheap. So, it’s easy to talk a good game But then, when you get in the thick of it, when you are up against a wall, against a deadline, in debt, under pressure, under fire, trying to work from home while also managing juggling a family and everything that comes along with what’s on your mind during a global pandemic and everything that’s happening economically, again, talk is cheap.

So, again, I think deeply about what are going to be the best tools. And there is an amount of this where you have to take time to reflect on who you want to be. It’s hard to do this in the moment, like I say, you can’t sell your parachute on your way out of the plane. And it is imperative, it is essential that you take time out to think about how you are going to navigate difficult terrain and to think about if you are trying to also create some big beautiful bold impossible dream know that there is going to be times when you absolutely want to quit, when it feels terrible.

Otherwise, you would have done it already. Otherwise, everyone else would be doing it. And likely, it probably wouldn’t interest you. And so, it’s easy to talk a good game, and it’s also really hard in words to get across that feeling of when you were in the thick of it and you feel like you can’t hag on. It’s when you’re in that moment, when it’s a moment by moment decision that you make over and over again when no one’s looking, when no one else is there, when you need to come through for yourself and talk to yourself in a way that comes from a place of strength and fierceness and deep love, and to continue on.

Because when it does feel like belief runs out – and I’m going to talk about the more nuanced parts of that phrase right there, when it feels like belief runs out, a little bit later. But when you’re in that spot, when you’re just not feeling it, and worse, you’re feeling miserable and everything, almost everything in you wants to quit, press on because that is often the superhuman thing to do.

We want it to feel differently than it does, grit and grace that is. Like, grace, oftentimes, feels nothing like what that word sounds like poetically. Grace, oftentimes, you’re digging deep and find reserves you didn’t know you had. And again, persist in alignment with your commitment, in alignment with a commitment and a sacred dream that comes from your highest intentions and your highest self, and not from your past patterns, not from habits, memories of who you’ve been, or comfort zones.

And again, the difficult thing here too is it’s probably not just once. It probably happens over and over and over again. And maybe in a way where it feels crushing or you feel like, “Seriously, when am I going to get a break?” But use that resistance to enter flow.

I almost used that line, resistance to enter flow, using resistance to enter flow to open this episode. It’s something that came to me during a difficult time when I was between a rock and a hard place and I was not feeling anything at all. I didn’t feel like I could go on. Didn’t think I wanted to continue on with what I was doing. And I dug deep and listened and prayed and that’s what came to me. Use the resistance to enter flow.

And I’ve shared it with clients. I’ve shared it with Art Schoolers. And sometimes people get it right away. But I think it’s also one of those lines that can mean many things depending on the situation and depending on who you are and where you are. So, I hesitated to share it because usually there are people that ask for explanations, and I feel like it is one of those things that if you explain it too much, you kill it.

So, I’m just going to hand that to you right there, what came to me during a dark and difficult time. Use resistance to enter flow so that you can add that too to your back pocket and to your arsenal if you find yourself in a tight spot.

And I’ll tell you what, another line that has been like gold to me in times like that is just the refrain of come through for yourself. Come through for yourself. And not from a grit your teeth white-knuckle it kind of place, but from a pull down deep into your heart and see the kind of heart and soul you’re made of. Let that heart and soul come through for you.

So again, part of this process of becoming a creative powerhouse, becoming somebody who develops what seems to others to be a superhuman ability to follow through and create exactly what you want is planning for when you don’t want to do it.

And I’ve talked before about not waiting to take your emotional temperature before you do something because the soul-stealer, killer of so many dreams is this refrain, “I’m just not feeling it. I can’t do it because I’m not feeling it.”

If you find yourself saying that, vow right now that that goes out the window cold turkey. Here’s another place to dig deep and say, no more. That is something that I no longer tolerate in my mind or in my life. I am not someone who says, “I can’t do it because I don’t feel it.”

If you decided at some point, when you were clear and lucid, that this was definitely a sacred dream to you and then you set out and it was a big sacred dream. That does not mean that you are guaranteed a yellow brick paved road.

So, I want to make sure to distinguish that I’m not talking about doing violence to your intuition or to the wisdom of your emotions. But you have to learn to be able to discern when your intuition, when your emotions are speaking the language of, “This is wrong for you, go another way,” or when you find yourself – and this is one way you can know – if you find yourself in a pattern of you want the same thing, you find yourself up against a similar obstacle, a pattern repeating itself in your life, and it’s a point at which you always back down or talk yourself out of your dreams.

And a lot of times, the way we talk ourselves out of it sounds really great, “We’re doing better than so and so. This was crazy anyway. It’s really not that responsible. It’s not a good time. I’ll start tomorrow. I just decided this idea over here was so much better.”

Sometimes, that idea over there is so much better. Sometimes, that is the case. But if you have a habit of that, a shiny object habit, and it always seems to occur at a certain point along in your process, be onto yourself. You will move your creativity, the results you get in your life, and also your process of personal evolution ahead by leaps and bounds. You will save yourself decades if you rid yourself of tolerating the phrase and living in accordance with it, “I can’t do it because I don’t feel it.”

Also, you know, if you’ve been hanging around here long enough. Your feeling there didn’t just happen to you. There was a thought that created it. So, this is why it is essential to rise above your life, to take time out to reflect, to reflect on your life, to employ a regular practice of metacognition, which means watching, using your thinking to watch your thinking, raising your awareness of how your mind works, really getting to know yourself and your mind on an intimate level and from a compassionate, non-judging place.

Because if you’re still judging, you’re actually still in it, still connected to that emotional charge. So, rise above it. And like a scientist studying your mind and your life, start to understand the loop from thinking, feeling, to actions, to results. And again, when the rubber hits the road, you can prepare and prepare. And that does not mean it’s going to be smooth sailing during those difficult times. So, it’s good to decide ahead of time how you want to act.

I know I’ve shared in other episodes the story of Ulysses tying himself to the mast. It’s a story from the great epic the Odyssey. And Ulysses knows he’s entering the sea where the deadly sirens are. And he knows that no man can withstand the song of the sirens and that countless sailors, brave men who know better have jumped to their deaths when they were seduced by the siren’s song.

So, he makes a plan ahead of time. He doesn’t underestimate the power of the song of the siren and he doesn’t overestimate himself. And he could easily, right? He’s Ulysses. He’s the hero in this journey. He is the captain of the ship. But he doesn’t make that mistake.

And so, what he does instead is he makes a protocol. He makes a plan. He says he’s going to – and he does – tie himself to the mast of the ship, you know, with roped. He has his men bind him up and he puts wax in his ears and he makes the men vow on their lives that no matter what he says – oh wait, he doesn’t put wax in his ears. He puts wax in their ears.

And then, he makes the men vow on their lives that no matter what he says or how he pleads, they will not untie him from that mast. And he doesn’t put the wax in his ears because he wants to come face to face with the demon, with the obstacle that no other man, human, has been able to overcome.

And so, they sail into the seas. Sure enough, the sirens start up with their beautiful, seducing, powerful song and, sure enough, he loses his mind and struggled. But he goes, as the hero, understands the value of meeting that resistance and not avoiding it, understands that that is part of his odyssey. And yet still, also made a plan ahead of time to tie himself to the mast and made everybody vow that they would be compliant with his plan.

I thought that was also a really interesting part of the story, the he didn’t do this himself. He wasn’t on the ship himself. And he also, for being this heroic larger than life epic figure, also evoked the support of those that he was leading. So, there are so many metaphors in that tale. And I will let you mine that for where you can apply it in your own life.

I do think of that too, when it comes to the Art School, that that is one of the powers of the process of this community and of group coaching. It is not impossible to give up on yourself in a group like this. And yet, there is something about being in the boat with other people. And there is something about going through this process that we go through where I am not making people tie themselves to furniture in their house or anything like that. But we do go through this process of what does it mean to commit and how do you do that?

What is the equivalent for you of tying yourself to the mast? And for some people, it is the financial investment. For some people, that is the most money they have ever invested on themselves personally in their creativity, for their career development, or just in their life because they wanted to. And I honor that that can be a huge and scary thing.

I have done it many times, on many different levels. And it is an emotional risk. And there is something about putting that stake in the ground in the universe that shifts everything, that is like tying yourself to the mast. And it is in fact why this year, for the first time, I’m not offering payment plans. I want people to be so committed that I completely honor and understand what a financial investment means for them. And I also know that, for the client to get to that place where they are all in, where they get to a place where they’re like, there is no turning back for me, I am not jumping ship, it has to be meaningful.

They have to have their mind focused in one place and it should feel like an epic undertaking or a heroic journey because that is the equivalent of not putting the wax in your ears, right? It raises all of the voices that say, “Who do you think you are? How are you going to do this?” Which is also why I devote a lot of time and energy to really getting across and teaching and helping people to integrate and take into their lives this process of 10-timesing anything that you invest in.

Because if you can learn to do that, you can apply that creative skill over and over again in any arena of your life. But to go to that place where you’re willing to invest in yourself, that’s where something in you says, “Now she’s cooking with fire. Now she’s cooking with gas.” And then things really start to move and shift.

So, I want to come back a moment too, to talking about the messy middle of the creative process. Because so many people will say to me – and this has been my experience for sure as well – I can see clearly the big vision. I see my book on the shelf. I see me signing the document that seals the deal for my dream home. I see me on my wedding day. I see my painting being exhibited in this dream location at a dream exhibit. I see me working with a top film producer and landing that coveted role that takes me into the next level of my industry. But when I get down into the day to day is where I lose it.

When you’re all alone and, let’s say, wanting to write your New York Times bestseller, but you cannot make yourself lift the lid of your laptop, or it’s excruciating if you do, and you’re fighting yourself with every sentence. Or maybe, you have been on a tear and there is no problem for you with creating. You’re very prolific. You’re very disciplined. You’ve churned out a lot of work. But you’re at a point where you’re like, “Hey, there are bills to pay and the money hasn’t come and the tide hasn’t turned. I think I’ve done everything I can do and I’m about ready to fold on this dream.”

So, what to do when you’re between a rock and a hard place and the money runs out or you’re in debt and in general the belief seems to have run out?

So, what I want to say first is, if we are going to be disciplined about this, even when it feels terrible in the moment, it’s a hard place to do thought work. So, if you come back to an old but classic and proven knuckle-dragger approach of press on, like one foot in front of the other. March on. If you think that this dream is a sacred dream, if you know that in your heart and take those as your marching orders and march on. Do not give yourself a plan B. Do not give yourself any other option, but that you are going to taste victory.

I heard this quote from Daniel Boone, who was a pioneer and incredible at what we would not call orienteering. And he said, “I would never have ever said that I was lost, but there were sometimes weeks at a time where I was mighty bewildered.” And that is somebody, you know, running through the wild-wild, having to kill their own food and find food and water and survive in the wilderness on their own.

So, one thing that I would suggest – it’s very pragmatic and it’s on the action-oriented line, but it also helps edify your mind and your spirit – is to read the stories of people who have come through things far worse than you. Because it will remind you of something that you have in common. You are human and you have a human spirit. And a human spirit is capable of incredible things; theirs and yours.

And you can bring it back to then choosing to believe a thought that that human spirit in you can triumph. Other times, your circumstances may not be so dyer and you don’t need to continue to put one foot in front of the other. But you do have the ability to take time and space to pull back, rise above your life, and reflect. So, at that time, here’s something to consider that I recently wrote to a client.

Is it that belief runs out, or knowing what we know, isn’t it really that we have stopped thinking thoughts that we were thinking, that was giving us a certain feeling that we associated with having a belief be true? Isn’t it just that we stopped thinking that there was something about what we are doing that is true, that is good and meaningful? And the ability to pick that thought back up again, that what we are doing in this even seemingly small, tedious, insignificant moment, we can still harness our ability to create meaning and to decide, this is good, this is true, this is significant?

Sometimes, deeming those seemingly insignificant things as significant is a radical act of love. Because it is, after all, a moment of your life. It is one breath you take. It is one step you take. So, why not declare it sacred and meaningful?

I think sometimes, what happens is that the belief we think runs out was the belief that generated a feeling of motivation, a feeling that we are accustomed to thinking is the feeling we need to create the dream. But maybe we’re wrong about that. Maybe the feeling of inspiration or motivation that got us started and got us through the first third or first half of our journey is not the fuel, the emotional fuel that we need to carry us through the middle part of our journey.

Maybe what we need in that middle part is meaning, is a deeper connection to our purpose. Maybe that middle part is meant to call us to question our why. Maybe that middle part is designed to invite us to think deeper about why we are doing what we are doing and who we are and who we want to decide to be in that moment, moment by moment by moment.

Motivation, inspiration are awesome. But maybe, what we need in this middle phase is presence, presence with the deepest parts of ourselves, the most difficult parts of ourselves, the most difficult parts of these journeys. Maybe it’s in those spaces that we are invited to find resources and aspects of ourselves that we never knew we had. Maybe we are invited to cultivate strength or a super-human ability to create meaning and beauty and places that others would consider a wasteland.

But when in doubt, do press on. Do march on. Pressing on will bring the deepest and most treacherous parts of our mind into the light and sharp relief. But here too is an opportunity and an invitation and it’s one that we don’t have to take, which has us questioning then why in the hell would anyone choose this and choose to do this to themselves?

But we do because it sharpens us and it elevates us. It requires us to connect more strongly to the highest part of ourselves and then to think from that place. This is difficult terrain, but it’s easier to navigate if you can see what you’re dealing with, and that’s what difficult circumstances do for us. That’s what the messy middle is perhaps inviting us to do, to press on until we do come face to face with that resistance.

Because if you have raised your awareness, it comes out of the darkness, out of denial, and into light. And then that’s when we have an opportunity to ask these hard questions over and over again. Why? Why am I doing this? Who am I and who do I want to be? We have the opportunity to get really clear and get to know ourselves in this lifetime.

It’s amazing to think that you could go your whole life and never answer these questions. But it happens all the time. And I do think that this is an opportunity that can be found only in the depths, the swamp, the deep, dark forest of the messy middle.

So, again my friends, “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, until it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn,” Harriet Beecher Stowe.

So, this brings me to the part of the podcast where I want you to do more than just listen. I want you to lean in. Really work with me and coach with me. Don’t just consume this information. But become a powerful creator by taking it and applying it to your life.

My assignment for you this week is to revisit the story of Ulysses in the Odyssey. Mine that for metaphors for your own life. And then create a plan for your own life. What is that sea for you, that treacherous sea where you could answer the song of the siren and then you jump overboard and perhaps you do not get eaten by some scary monster mermaid, but what does happen is that’s where your dreams die, over and over again?

In the story of the Odyssey, there are details about how the islands in that sea are littered with the bleached white bones of so many sailors who have dumped to their death. And I know one metaphor for our purposes here. That’s the bones of so many people’s dreams. What are the siren songs that cause people to leap overboard?

It might, again, not be scary monster mermaids. It could be something as seemingly innocuous as the laundry or the pile of dishes in the sink that you get to, and therefore it’s one more day when you don’t get to your painting, to writing your novel.

It could be how you jump into compare and despair, and therefore instead of diving deep into your own soul and trusting that that which occurs to you is amazing and noble and capable if contributing beauty, light, meaning to the world, it could be that your sea is jumping in, your monster, is comparing yourself. And then the despair and the death of dreams that follow.

It could also be, you know, a death from 1000 cuts, all the small ways you let your creative and emotional energy or your financial resources be drained in life, so that you’re always feeling just depleted, maybe on a half tank, you don’t have everything at your disposal, including a full belief that your seemingly impossible dream is actually just right around the bend.

Your story though too might be that you don’t head through the sea that would take you where you are meant to go on your hero’s journey. Your story could be that you stay in the harbor, or maybe you don’t even get on the boat, but you just stay on the beach and you never leave the shore. That could be your story as well.

So, think about how you can apply this epic, this great human epic to your life at all levels. And think too, what is going to be your plan? What’s your map? What hero’s journey are you charting and how will you tie yourself to the mast? What will that look like? And what awaits you at the end of this hero’s journey, this epic tale? Why not try to write, with your life, a story for the ages?

Thank you so much for listening to another episode of The Art School Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, if these episodes have been helpful for you, the best thing you can do to pay it forward is to share, is to subscribe, and I also love it whenever anyone takes the time out of their life and also the mental and emotional energy to write a review, just as Amira did. Thank you again, Amira.

And if you would love to take this work deeper, there are two more ways to do that, get with me here in 2020. As I mentioned, the mastermind starts next week. We currently have 10 members. I want to keep the group small, so there’s potentially room for a few more if it’s the right fit. If you think this is calling your name, this is part of your epic odyssey, I would love to have you on this extraordinary boat and adventure.

So, to apply, go to my website, www.leahcb.com, click on the mastermind headline, and that will take you to the description and also there will be a button there where you can click through to apply. I personally read, with great care and honor, every person’s application. And I also have been told by many of the applicants that just the process of filling out the application was powerful medicine for them. So, if this has been calling you, I highly encourage you to apply.

Secondly, we begin the Art School fall session in just four and a half short weeks. So, you still have time to sign up and apply. Also, if you sign up early, you also have access to the entire summer workshop series, including the live on that we will be doing next week, The Art and Skill of 10-Timesing Any Investment.

If you’d like to learn more about the Art School or enroll, you can also find that link on my website, www.leahcb.com and look for the header that says the Art School. And, as always, if you have any questions at all, please email us at support@leahcb.com. We always love hearing from you and we are happy to answer any questions you might have.

So, to close today, I wanted to share another Harriet Beecher Stowe quote, which I think is related to this topic of navigating resistance, what you do when you want to stop, navigating the messy middle. It’s one I haven’t heard of before, but I came across it in my research for this episode.

“Everyone confesses that exertion which brings out all the powers of body and mind is the best thing for us. But most people do all they can to get rid of it. And, as a general rule, nobody does much more than circumstances drive them to do,” Harriet Beecher Stowe.

I thought this was so relevant on many levels, including that last line, “As a general rule, nobody does much more than circumstances drive them to do.” Because that is the default position. That is the antithesis of the hero’s journey. Because it is those moments of darkness and despair when you know you need to press on but you really want to give up, that you ask yourself why? Why am I doing this? I don’t have to do this? I could still be considered a decent, good human being and live a very full life and not do this, so why do this? Circumstances are not driving me to do this. I don’t have to do this.

So, one parting question for you, if you find yourself or you have found yourself in the position where that’s the question that comes up, is this feeling of wanting to do this ever going to go away, even if you quit? Will the dream quit? Or will it stay with you for the rest of your life?

If you want even more empowerment on this topic, I highly recommend going back and listening to the interview with Nicole Whiting too, where she talks about the importance of asking ourselves the hard questions. She is an ultra-athlete and triathlete, Ironwoman, after all, among many other incredible things. So, she knows that of which she speaks.

I hope you have a beautiful week, everyone. I am looking forward to seeing many of you in the upcoming mastermind and the Art School Fall. This is going to be an epic odyssey and I’ve got so much adventure planned for all of us. So, looking forward to seeing you and I look forward to talking to all of you next week.