To go on a journey, you have to start
But that's always the hardest part
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
But even before that, it begins with an intention. A thought, an idea, an inkling.
What if I took a journey?
An idle thought on a warm Tuesday afternoon that takes root (if you let it) and turns into this burning desire to -do something-.
You can’t start to do something without even thinking about doing it first.
Without imagining it.
Without dreaming it.
It feels apt that I’m writing this here, now, on the cusp of something big, something daring, something wild.
Whatever this is, it’s starting with this thought, this idea, this intention.
Where did this intention start?
Looking back at some entries from my personal blog, this is something that has been percolating for the past year or so.
It’s not a whim or a fancy. I rarely do (important) things - perhaps this is my own fanciful notion of what will come out of this - without mulling it over for days and weeks and months first.
Back in 2013, when I finally embarked on my one-way-trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, I’d been thinking about it for over a year before that. In fact, one year and three months. I graduated University in May 2012, and started plotting my “escape”.
I’d get a well-paying job (I did, teaching English at a premier tuition agency), and save most of what I made to fund my travels. And then I’d buy a one-day ticket to the furthest-away-place I could think of, Argentina.
And I did it.
That was almost a decade ago. Then, the intention was to see the world. To experience it in all its glory. To meet people from all over and soak up all the lessons life had to offer.
It was beautiful and incredible, and I’ve learned so much.
Now, I’m on the precipice of the next thing. And this new intention is taking hold.
What’s the intention?
This bit is still a work-in-progress. It’s messy, I don’t have a good way at describing it yet. I definitely don’t have an “elevator pitch” nicely packaged and delivered.
But I will try.
The intention here, with this new work, is simply to help people discover their truth.
As my graduation present to myself, I got my first tattoo.
This above all, to thine own self be true.
With a silhouette of a bird, to represent the freedom to spread my wings and fly.
It sits beneath my left breast, a reflection of what it means to listen to my heart’s true desires.
I got this tattoo as a reminder of my commitment to my dream - to travel and experience everything I could that the world had to offer.
I’d seen too many people forget the dreams and passions of their young selves - to travel, to become an artist, to do theater work full-time - and get caught up in what society says you should do instead.
I was lucky enough to be able to hold on to the dreams of 23-year-old Crunch and make them a reality.
Now, I see that my role is to help others get back to their path.
The path to discovering their true selves, their hidden, inner selves, their deepest desires.
Why this?
I say we need to ‘discover’ our true selves but really, what we need to do is uncover it.
We all know what we truly want. We’ve simply forgotten it from years of not listening to ourselves, not trusting our intuition, ignoring the inner voice.
It’s hidden under years of messages with have received from everyone around us about who we are and how we should be, that under the weight of it all, it was easier to simply go with [their] flow.
Honestly, it’s not our fault that we’ve ended up like this.
I mean, we hear all of these messages, these ideas every day from everyone around us. Everywhere we turn, from the time we were young -
Study hard. Get a good job.
Get the promotion. Get another promotion.
Find a spouse. Buy a house.
Kids! Kids! Pets! Picket fences.
Luxury vacations. Golf courses.
Fancy car, fancy bag, fancy shoes, fancy watch.
With all of these coming at us from every which way, it’s hard to discern what to listen to.
Unfortunately, who we stop listening to is ourselves.
The one person who we should trust and listen to most closely, gets moved wayyyyy down the list - to the point that we can’t even hear ourselves think.
And honestly, I can’t think of anything worse.
What do we do now?
While not easy, the answer to this question is simple.
We have to find out truth. And we do that by listening to ourselves.
Now, it’s hard but it can be done.
Our environment is such a big part of who we think we are that once we change that environment, we can see/feel/listen to our inner selves.
It really is that simple.
Shift your surroundings and shift your perspective.
But I get that it can be scary to make that shift. And that’s where I could help. If any of this sounds like something you want to explore further, I would be thrilled to hop on a coffee chat with you.
If not, hit the subscribe button to get more bits of writing like this.
I think the next one I’ll write will be about how terrifying all of this is for me, and why I’m doing it anyway.
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