I never fully understood ‘finding myself,’ until I started experiencing her.
We grow up in whatever region we are born into. We become accustomed to the lifestyle that we see around us. That is our norm. But then, sometimes we move away.
We believe that we could never be that person that climbs a mountain or masters a new art. Then- we do it. We have a front row seat to a beautiful show called- becoming version 2.0 of ourselves.
Using myself as an example for this one. Not going to start at the beginning of my life- just at a part where I can see myself taking significant strides to become a more interesting person.
At least, where I saw myself become more interesting. It all started when I had to ‘start over.’ Fresh out of a long-term relationship that I now see as something I was allowing to hold myself back. I was focused on making “us” great and forgetting the lack of making myself interesting. I’m sure I was a different type of interesting but, I really like who’ve I’ve evolved into so far.
Anyway.
I remember the feelings I’d get back in the day, before I wrote my book, “Life in Katie’s Shoes.” I felt like I had this greater purpose. However, this greater purpose I felt was quickly followed by an overwhelming sense of fear. I also had someone in my life who said I couldn’t stay focused enough to write a whole book. I’d eventually give up at it like I did everything else. *Pause for a second- if you have people close to you saying negative things like this- reevaluate. Negative energy doesn’t help you grow.
But then a beautiful thing happened, I started creating myself again. I wrote that book. I bought that new mountain bike. I bought that new backpacking gear. I tried new things that made me get out of my comfort zone. I used to be that person that placed one toe out of the box and said, ‘this is fine.’ Now, I pull on my knee pads and send it out of that comfort zone, down a gnarly downhill.
Life is meant to be fun. It’s meant to challenge you and make you face your fears. You’re not meant to sit on the sidelines and watch your own life go by without you fully participating. You’re supposed to grow. Why stay complacent?
Recently, I went to the indoor climbing gym. I was doing a particular route (V2/V3) I believe, and it was challenging. My back was almost parallel to the mats and my footing, kept slipping. I found myself holding onto the holds, with my feet dangling in the air. I managed to get back to the wall each time but it makes me reflect, how did I get here?
I have taken many steps to get to the position of being able to hold my weight, physically. I’ve taught myself mindset. I’ve trained my body that it can’t automatically say no. It needs to find every possible solution before we stop and go back to the drawing board.
The drawing board is not a bad thing though. Take a minute to look at your life. Write down the top three things that you find important and want to focus on improving in your life. Now, do them. Easier said than done right? Wrong.
You’re driving your life. Like I said before, you can either find yourself on the sidelines of your own life, or you can be behind the wheel Mario cart style doing whatever makes you become a better, happier version of yourself.
Notice I said happier. There are things in our life that we try to just try. They may or may not make us any happier in our lives. We may want to quit the new gym we just joined because we aren’t happy with the results we are getting. We may want to throw in the towel on a new creative endeavor or business venture because it’s going to be too hard and not give us instant satisfaction.
But the truth I have found, at least in my own life- it takes time to build. Folks, I used my core strength while trying to get back on that wall. That did not happen overnight. I use that example because it truly made me feel like a bad ass. It made me happy. I’ve navigated through different interests to find the ones that make me the happiest and fulfilled in my life.
Now why am I rambling about using core strength and being able to physically hold my weight? Hear me out.
Besides being able to be strong physically core-wise and being able to ‘hold your weight’ physically; you have to be open to being able to strengthen your mindset internally and essentially ‘hold your weight,’ mentally.
You have to be able to sit yourself down and have a conversation of vulnerability with yourself. Version 2.0 of yourself will not show up naturally if you are not aligning yourself to evolve into it. Like most things in life, it does not come easy at first. I hope though, that you are able to experience the feeling I had when I had to swing myself back to the wall. The feeling of empowerment and awe that I was able to accomplish something that an earlier version of me could only dream about.
Finding version 2.0 of yourself is not easy. Don’t let someone tell you that it is. It’s going to be hard. At times, you’re going to want to quit. You’ll have some wins during your journey. Let those wins (and losses) fuel you until the next day. It is truly a gift to be able to get to know yourself better and push yourself towards the person you want to be.
Live your life, not the mediocre version of it.
“Life in Katie’s Shoes,” can be found for purchase on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Life-Katies-Shoes-Danae-Decker-ebook/dp/B08JK1NKQ5#customerReviews
Danae Decker 