hold onto your good
On Monday I wrote about why we need to pivot, which stemmed from two pieces on defining perfection for yourself and letting go of negativity. I’ve spent a lot of time since Monday determining what today’s blog post was going to be about. I’m not going to lie, I had so many different ideas at once that it became hard to narrow it down to one subject. And that’s when I realized what I needed to write about for today: getting specific. Pivoting is great because, as I stated on Monday, “we remain who we are at our center, but we adjust to the circumstances around us in order to free ourselves up for a better opportunity.”
Have you ever had a big dream you got really excited about? Maybe it’s writing a book, acting in a film, becoming CEO of your own company, landing your dream job in a corner office, playing music professionally, or doing comedy! All those dreams are achievable as long-term goals as long as you work hard and set achievable short-term goals. I often say “bite off more than you can chew and then chew it.” I, myself, live by that motto and have a tendency to spread myself a little too thin at times. That tendency, however, has led to some incredible opportunities - many of which I’ve written about previously.
When I first started writing this blog, I had a lot of really big goals for it. I still have all those same goals, but I realized that I was trying to run before I could walk. It’s not that I rush into things without thinking things through, but I have a tendency to get incredibly excited really quickly. It’s a thing I love about myself - that excitement. I hope I never lose it. If I didn’t slightly romanticize all the possibilities of the future when starting this blog, I wouldn’t have started it. I know myself, and that excitement equals passion for me. It means there’s something special brewing - something magical. It may sound cheesy, but it’s true. I’m a very passionate person, so I invest a lot of myself in the things in which I believe, whether personal or professional.
Once I committed to the bigger picture of the blog, I realized I needed to scale back and focus on short-term goals that could lead to my long-term ones. I then evaluated everything I wanted to achieve long-term and decided to take baby steps and start where I was at that moment in time. This is where pivoting became extremely important.
When I first started my blog I was in a relationship where I lost my voice. Writing through a lot of difficult feelings really helped me process everything, let go of the negativity I was feeling, and find my voice again. I’ve always been someone who defaults to a positive view of the world, so it was a hard time for me: being in something that extinguished that light. But all the things I’ve written about the last few months - making your own decisions, committing, managing your time and yourself, being honest, following your fears and then following fun - these are all the things about me that I remained true to all along. It took creating and writing about it to help me realize that I did hold onto the good parts of myself along the way. Even rereading some older pieces now from a place where I feel like my happiest self, I can still see all the positivity that was radiating even if I couldn’t always feel it at that point in time.
So why “getting specific?” Because a couple months ago, when I rebranded my entire website and felt like I’d gotten my voice back, I knew I needed to pivot. A lot of things I was writing about before that rebrand were overarching, general topics. There's a lot of great content I’m so happy I have, but I knew that it was time to focus on “less is more” in order to be succinct.
So which way exactly did I pivot? Well, I kept one foot planted in all the things I am and shifted my perspective. I’m an East Coast actress, writer, and musical improviser living in LA who plays basketball, softball, and soccer, who loves the gym, hiking, surfing at the beach, her family, and cooking. I love hanging out with my friends, I like having a drink on occasion, and I love to laugh.
I realized that all those things make me who I am and that I am enough. I then realized that there are people out there who may not realize that they are more than enough being who they are at their core, too. My biggest internal motivator in life, I believe, is love. It sounds hokey to say you want to make the world a better place, but I do because I love life. It’s not from a place of judgment, either. I realize that my life is not the same as or better than anyone else’s, and I realize that my lifestyle doesn’t work for everyone. And I’m okay with that. I just want people to realize that they are great just being themselves, doing things that make them happy (as long as they’re not hurting others!), and that they don’t need the validation of others to feel good. That external validation is all ego-based, but that internal validation that you get from yourself doing the things you love? That's all soul.
So I pivoted to get specific. I started writing the blog I wished I’d had when I first moved to Los Angeles. It can be a difficult city to navigate, but it’s incredibly important not to lose yourself or sacrifice who you are at your core while trying to chase your dreams. I almost lost myself, and I will be eternally grateful for the rest of my life that I didn’t.
Finish out this week strong! I’ll see you for my video blog post on Friday! And, as always, if you have any pressing questions or if you want to discuss something further with me, feel free to subscribe below or reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so grateful that I’ve been getting a lot of really challenging questions and even better feedback from a community all over the world. I couldn’t do this without you! I’m here for you, and I love hearing from you, too! You’re the best, and you have everything you need inside of you! Please believe it!