How to LEVEL UP in 2021 (Part 2)

So you’ve had your champagne toasts, you’ve made your vision boards, you bought your 2021 planners but now you’re at a crossroads….. “What do I do next” you ask?

Well I am here to help you answer that question. I am here to make that transition a little bit smoother and to make trusting yourself a little bit easier. I know how confusing and daunting the task of change can be; which is why I am here to hold your hand! I can’t tell you what will work for you. I can't make you LEVEL UP. I can only share with you the tools I implemented that have shifted my mindset, productivity, and heart posture.

These 4 principles that I am about to share with you in addition to the guidelines from my last blog post have transformed the way I see and interact with the world and consequently the way the world sees and interacts with me.

If you too would like to see the world through new eyes I suggest you try these on for size…

1. Welcome Change
     I almost lied to you guys. I almost said “Change is difficult'' but I had to stop typing mid-sentence because I know that to be a lie. We tend to look at life through this ever fixed lens that others have placed in front of us. From birth we are told: Relationships require a lot of work, Love isn’t easy, Money is hard to earn, and Change is difficult. ALL OF WHICH ARE LIES! Some old man in 1682 found it difficult to change and decided to impose his impediments upon the rest of the world. Which is BONKERS! In reality, change is one of the easiest and most fundamental truths of life. We are changing EVERY second! Honestly, even faster! Our bodies morph at warp speed— killing off old cells to replace them with new ones. Our brains create new ideas & pathways every day and our soul/spirit/heart (whatever you wanna call it) generates new emotions and feelings all the time.

We are not the same person we were last year, last week, or even yesterday!

Yet, we treat change like it’s something to be feared rather than celebrated. We close our hearts off to the newness of life in fear that we will suffer the same wounds we did before. However, our hearts are stronger than they once were, our bodies more agile, our intuition more developed. We couldn’t make those same mistakes if we tried because we are no longer the same people!

I happen to believe that “when you know better, you do better.” And you are better. I am better. We are all BETTER! We are not doomed to repeat history, “as they say” but we can definitely learn from it. We can learn to embrace change instead of resisting it. Because the faster we welcome or embrace change the faster it becomes our friend. I don’t know about you, but I want change to be my friend!

I want life to treat me well and to shower upon me all that I desire and more. I want to make an impact on this planet but I can't do that if I’m afraid of my own shadow. I can't feel the embrace of life if I’m pushing it away. And I can't let change serve me if I won't let it do its job.

Transition is natural and change is certain. So why not greet each day, each transition like your long lost Bestie here to take you on a surprise road trip? Of course the journey may lead you to some strange and unfamiliar places. You could get a flat tire. You could forget your camera in a bar. You might even lose all of your money— which most of us do anyways! But regardless you are guaranteed to have a good time as long as you have your friend by your side. That friend is change. Yea, she may get a bit rowdy, at times, but at the end of the day she’s always got your back!

2. Respect ya Self, Respect ya Vessel!

Exercise is something we love to make a chore or resolution out of but what if we actually used it to empower us to create everlasting change? I know we all have those sluggish moments where we don’t feel like working out but I think in order to transform your life you have to change the way you treat and see your vessel.

The human body is one of the most neglected and abused objects on this planet. We call it STUPID, ugly, fat, atrocious, disgusting you name it….. yet we expect this so called body to show up and perform for us every day. And it does just that! It shows up for us every single day without even a please or a thank you. The human body doesn’t complain one bit! It sits there daily taking the abuse we whirl at it and still it does its best to serve us and our life styles.

Well just like us our bodies went through an ENTIRE pandemic last year and I think they deserve a little TLC. Our bodies deserve to feel loved, safe, protected, and whole. You owe your body a little less fast food and a few more crunches. You owe your vessel that extra glass of water. Let your body be free and celebrate it in all of its glory!

This is not about being “SNATCHED” this is about honoring the one constant in this life— our vessel. This outer shell of skin and bones will be here through every high and low. Your body loves you even when you don’t love it back. It’s time we regarded our bodies as the divine blessings they are instead of the burdens we made them out to be. So celebrate that beautiful body of yours. Treat it well and it shall serve you well.

“Without a healthy and happy body it's really hard to lead a healthy and happy life.”

3. Reimagine your Future

The future can be a scary concept for most. Much like graduation or Mike Wazowski in the closet (Monsters Inc.) the closer it gets the scarier it feels. But what if it didn’t have to? What if the future was something we could eagerly anticipate?

I happen to think it can be. In fact, it should be eagerly anticipated. Because everything we desire will continue to unfold as the future unfolds. So if we want a brighter future we have to allow ourselves to envision it.

So feel it out….

What does your “bright” future look like? What does your perfect day feel like?

If it's difficult for you to imagine, try this exercise…..

You know what it's like to feel lost, right? Well imagine you’re lost at this very moment. You’re stuck in a foreign country… by yourself…waiting for your friend to arrive. You don’t speak the native tongue whatsoever. Oh! and your phone isn’t working for some odd reason.

Okay, now capture this moment in your mind. Feel the uncertainty pulsating through your temples. Sit in the fear for a few seconds (or as long as necessary). You’re feeling anxious now, aren’t you?

A little scared? Maybe even a little hopeless, huh? Now imagine you’ve just been found… your friend miraculously shows up and rescues you. You’re safe and secure!

Are you feeling a little relieved?

See! I told you! You do have the ability to visualize! You’re just used to doing it in the reverse.

Humans are insanely relative beings…. we think of everything (including ourselves) in the context of relativity. We can only imagine joy because we once knew sadness. We can only experience love because we first knew pain. We don’t look at ourselves through our own eyes but through the perception of someone else or some past experience.

So when you visualize what you want your life to look like just reverse the negative perceptions…..

If you feel stuck what does being free look like? If you feel poor what does being rich look like? If you feel ugly what does feeling beautiful feel like? If you feel lack what does abundance look like? If you feel like you’re not enough what does being worthy feel like? If you feel weak and defeated what does invincibility look like? What does the courageous you look like?

Now that you have a vision of the REAL you, the EMPOWERED you write it down!

Write down whatever comes to mind! And get detailed! I mean what colors this empowered person wears, where you live, who you love. ALL OF IT! Give me all of the juicy details! Once you’ve defined what you want carry this sheet of paper around with you everywhere! That way if a new dream pops into your mind you can write it down instantly.

Go over your vision EVERYDAY! Meditate on it! Pray about it! Make copies! (And Tell No one unless you really, REALLY trust them with your dream!) Keep your focus on your vision. Imagine yourself already living this life of freedom & happiness. And watch in fascination as your mind reconfigures itself to bring about that which you desire!

4. Give your Dreams a Chance

This is probably the most important piece of advice I can give any of you. So hopefully you made it this far…. if you did I can promise that your life is about to make a turn for the best! And I know this from personal experience!

I believe that all good things start out as a dream. Your home… your car… your spouse… even you started out as a dream. Our dreams as big as they may seem are actually fragile little things. Which explains why most people's dreams never see the light of day. To us they feel too gargantuan to realize yet too frail to touch. But that's only because you’re looking at the macro instead of the micro. Which I get it— I have big dreams too! HUMONGOUS, IN FACT! I have dreams of working with Beyoncé, of being the first Billionaire in my family, of being a best-selling author. You name it and I've probably dreamt it!

That may seem crazy to some people but to me and God that's just touching the surface. Because I have developed the ability to focus. I strategically focus on the micro while dreaming of the macro. I dream of working with Beyoncé but first I have to actually take, edit, and post my Ivy Park images on the gram (Which I did and I was reposted on @Weareivypark so clearly I’m headed in the right direction)! I can dream everyday of being a best-selling author but in order to figure out if writing is really my “jam” I have to keep blogging, don’t I?

Greatness is not something achieved overnight. Greatness requires great patience. It requires believing in yourself when no one is standing in your corner (and being okay with that!) Because contrary to popular belief big dreams sometimes require more than one viral post. Big dreams are often those visions that ONLY make sense to you. And those Big Ole dreams are often accomplished by those people who decided each day to take one more step toward their vision. Every day they had one little dream to put up one more YouTube video. Or one little dream to sign that contract. They had one little dream to pay the light bill. Or one little dream to keep posting even when their last 3 Instagram posts got 3 likes—collectively!

Big dreamers who consciously focus decide every day to give themselves a fighting chance regardless as to what others may think or feel. It's not even about the applause. All though the claps will come! It's not about the external validation! The gratification will come too— trust me! But none of that really matters. And I know people say that all the time but it's true! I have learned that it feels so much better to be proud of yourself for believing in YOU than it does to be celebrated by someone else. Especially someone who doesn’t know your journey.  

So if you want my advice, I say follow your intuition to the ends of the earth! Your intuition will never fail you. Following your intuitive nudges will help you find that thing that makes you forget the world even exists. That is called the flow. Right now I am in the flow. The words are spilling out of me and I could probably type a novel at this very moment (but I won’t do all that cuz y’all came here for a blogpost lol). 

Seriously though! Do what you love! Connect to that endless flow. When you do you’ll find the greatest joy in your smallest wins. And in turn the wins will get bigger and BIGGER! Until one day you’re staring your dream dead in the face almost forgetting that you even dreamt it!

So put that dream out there! Write it down! Create a strategy! And believe in yourself!

Each day take another step towards that dream of yours. Some Days you’ll make more progress than others. Some days you’ll actually feel yourself regressing—but you’re not!

You just have to trust the process! Trust your process because it won’t look like anyone else’s. And when you feel all hope is lost KEEP GOING and trust that you’re doing just fine! Trust that there is a miracle waiting just on the other side of that failure. Because there is—I promise! It's okay to slow down and catch your breath, I get it! But if you really love your dream don’t give it up. And Don’t give up on yourself!

Always remember that you can’t plant your seeds and reap your harvest in the same season. Sometimes it takes a little more will power and a little more patience. Nevertheless, you need to put a seed in the ground if you expect to reap a harvest…. so start planting. Gather your seed. Stick it in the ground. Water and tend to those dreams of yours. Sing to them if you must (I heard it makes plants grow faster). Once they are planted firmly in the ground begin to eagerly anticipate the miracles that are guaranteed to spring forth. And if you happen to think you’ve planted the wrong seeds that’s okay! You can always plant a new crop and birth a new dream. It's never too late for the dreamer to start anew because anything is possible when you believe.

So it's time you started believing. It's time for you to put that belief into action….I know 2021 is OUR time to LEVEL UP! So get to planting kiddos! You might be pleasantly surprised come harvest time…!