Listen to your soul. It knows the way.

This blog post is in response to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 2. You can also view my prelude and response to day 1.

Freedom. What an interesting and complicated word to analyze. In this day in age, I sometimes get the sense that people view freedom as either having total freedom in all areas of their life or they have no freedom at all and are totally restricted. I've fallen into this mindset in terms of trying to find a career, finding a location to live and start a career, and in committing to relationships. 

This mindset has mutilated the true meaning of freedom and not served me on my journey toward the life that I want to live. 

I think the opposite of freedom is fear. You probably realized in my first response to the 10DFBC that I've realized fear tends to dominate my actions. I'm working on it, OK? If you're like me, our journey needs to be about catching those fears as they pop in our thoughts or out our mouth (usually in the form of excuses), take note of them, and try to analyze why they are burdening us.

I was looking around online for something relating to the word freedom, and I discovered a quote by Andrea Balt that really made me think: Freedom is not about the size of your cage or power of your wings or non-attachment to a person or thing. Freedom is about being so truly, madly, and deeply attached to your soul that you can't bear - if only for a moment - a life that doesn't honor it. 

Balt sums up what I've felt and known about freedom but couldn't put in my own words. It always comes down to soul. When I think about what would make my soul most happy, I think about seeing and experiencing cultures I have not before. The human condition and learning about the lives of others is what drew me to study both English and journalism. 

When I push all the restrictions of what people should or can do as society has set them, push the restrictions of money and fear of logistics aside, freedom to me looks like traveling and interacting with people around the world, learning their life stories and struggles. I would follow them around and see their normal day and share that with the world. I see so much truth and beauty in the normal lives of people and I think having others see it too would ground them.

It didn't hit me until right now that I was obsessed with a book as a child that probably planted the seed to write about the lives of ordinary people around the country. I loved DK books when I was younger, but I used to look at Children Just Like Me all the time. The book celebrates children from all over the world, telling about their families, what they eat, what types of homes they live in, their hobbies, and so much more. I would look at their pictures, read about them and it made me sit and wonder how people around the world can be so different, but yet just the same. 

Wow. Sometimes connections just hit you and leave you in awe. 

I was always drawn to this page the most. Funny thing is, I recently started studying Russian, which is where these two girls were from.

I wonder where these children are now.

Excuses are not enough

This post is a prelude to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 1.


Around this time two years ago, I had just moved clear across the country - from Michigan to Washington state - to begin the life I had dreamed of for years. I began as an intern at YES! Magazine, a non-profit publication whose goal is to inform people on issues and then give them practical action steps on how to make a difference in society.

I loved my co-workers, the environment, Bainbridge Island, the short ferry ride to Seattle, how the articles I wrote seemingly made a difference to the readers, and the new independence I felt living in city that had so much to explore. I learned a tremendous amount, met interesting people with unique perspectives, and experienced so many new things.

When the internship came to an end though, I wasn't sure what to do. Like always, fear and courage came together at a peak, each bringing seemingly valid points to the argument of to stay or leave Seattle.

I ended up deciding to stay. I found a room to rent and started looking for a job, but those fears I mentioned earlier kept creeping back into my mind. I looked and looked for a job, but kept getting discouraged. Every day I became more stressed about sustaining myself. I applied at the Target within walking distance of my house, but they even denied me. This dream life of mine was becoming less and less visible.

I ended up buying a ticket home.

I felt like I had failed, I felt ashamed that I couldn't make it work, and I was embarrassed that I let fear swoop in.

After a few months home, I came across an article that brought the life back in my eyes. It featured Shay Brown and Cassie Torrecillas of Bucketlist Bombshells talking about their new Work Online and Travel the World Course. They had decided to drop the 9-5 routine and embark on a digital nomad lifestyle where they would travel around the world working from their laptops. This was my first introduction to this type of lifestyle and, let me tell you, I was hooked.

But that initial inspiration slowly dissipated as obligations arose and those full days of work left me tired. I didn't finish the course, but kept saying I would make time for it.

A year later, Cassie and Shay start promoting their next round of the course. I thought it was the perfect time to get back in the saddle and begin the course again. I began, but yet again, haven't finished. Oh how those excuses pile up.

When I look at my life, there seems to be so many avenues that I could and want to go down. There's the dream to travel the world, working from my laptop in villages awaiting exploration and experience. There's the dream of living in Seattle, working at a publication. There's the dream of being an author and writing something that will mean something to someone. There's the dream of opening a boutique and selling beautiful things. There's the dream of creating parties that will give people memories for a lifetime. There's so much I want to do, yet the thought of that is so overwhelming that it can cause me to procrastinate and make no progress down any of the avenues. Not good.

The ultimate question is: what will make me happy?
But the question I need to analyze first is: what challenges are holding me back from making necessary changes so I can begin to live the life that will make me happy?

And that is what I'll conquer in my next post [view it here]