Leaping into a life unscripted

April 3rd, 2018  – Written by Teal

The other night, I had a dream… it was a very familiar dream, filled with all the daily activities that I used to do each day until this trip began: commuting to work, handling a million responsibilities, stressing about getting promoted, rushing here, rushing there, wanting to please everyone, do everything, and push myself as hard as I could to ensure that I got it all done on time, without missing out on anything! Sound familiar?

Then the strangest thing happened – I woke up from the dream to my new real life – a life filled with warm coziness and snuggles with the love of my life, fresh coffee and baguettes from the bakery down the street, and the peace of mind of not needing to do anything, be anywhere, or talk to anyone. This life that had forever been a dream of mine was now my reality, and my old reality was now my dreams (or in some ways, nightmares) 😛 Can we say twighlight zone?

Now before you start thinking, “well aren’t you just the _____ one (lucky, privileged, insert adjective here) … not everyone can just go gallivanting off to Europe to eat pastries in bed…” I have to acknowledge that this is not just a lucky fluke, or a story to brag about being privileged.

Before this trip began, I sometimes began to worry if I was becoming a workaholic… since my early years in school, I had always pushed the envelope in what I was able to achieve, and worked my butt off to make it happen. Specifically in the last two years, I was working full time at the biggest, most fast paced, most tumultuous silicon valley behemouth, Uber, while building a business, volunteering for community events, and doing speaking engagements – squeezing every ounce of work time in the mornings and evenings during the workweek and on almost every weekend… I was focused, disciplined, and determined to keep pushing forward… Why? Because I had a dream and a job to do and nothing was going to keep me from it. And the result? Extreme stress, burnout, anxiety… and finally – freedom from that reality.

And while I could blame it on Corporate America, I have to acknowledge that I did this on my own accord. I really enjoyed working, being hyper-productive, and didn’t want to miss out on anything that I could have access to. But while this can bring with it some incredible possessions and experiences, this way of being still left me feeling like I always needed to do more. That the current reality was never enough.

But as I now have the time to reflect and step back to look at my life so far, I start to wonder:

1. Is it possible to live your dream life without PUSHING so hard? Does it have to take SO MUCH EFFORT, STRESS, AND ENERGY to have the life that deeply fulfills you, or can it be attracted with ease and intention?
2. What happens when you’ve accomplished all of your biggest dreams to date?

The answers I’ve received from my angels and intuition: 1.YES and 2. You DREAM EVEN BIGGER.

To me, it’s so much easier to work hard, because it gives you a feeling of being in control – the challenge for me in embracing the incredible uncomfortable state of what Spence and I like to call “the sweet art of doing nothing”. How often do you practice being present in the moment without wondering, or worrying, about what’s coming next?

For me to even have this dream moment I described earlier felt so incredibly UNCOMFORTABLE because my entire life has been spent working as hard as possible to achieve as much as possible.

In my opinion, living from this state of being, while also having enough money coming in to support your lifestyle is the next level of wealth. It’s the sweet tightrope dance of anticipating / planning for what’s next while still continuing a lifestyle of ease, freedom and contentedness in the moment. Living moment by moment. Because what’s more important than that?

Spencer and I have taken a huge leap into living this life unscripted – and are beginning to create this new foundation of success, based on the principles of ease, joy, and flow.

I am set to prove to myself, and anyone else intrigued by this way of living that it can be done – with ease. That you can build a ROBUST, LAVISH lifestyle without stress or burnout but with a foundation of joy, authenticity and peace.

So… how do you do it? I’ll keep you posted as we continue, but these are my notes after the first few weeks:

1. Soak it in and BASK in it! Which we have been thoroughly doing… eating, drinking, loving, laughing, playing… it’s been a true blessing of so much love)
2. Send gratitude and centered awareness: I had forgotten to keep this front and center, but it’s deeply needed in order for more good things to continue. It’s so easy to be swept up by the moments, and not take time to reconnect with the practices that got us to this point. We have now both incorporated 30 mins of yoga and 30 mins of meditation into our morning routine to ensure we don’t loose touch with what keeps us grounded.
3. Be in allowance of all emotions: With all of the highs also come all of the lows – and traveling has brought many of these to the surface as well. Traveling can be exhausting, daunting, and incredibly uncertain, so we are learning to roll with the moments and keep our expectations in check when things don’t go as planned, or disappointment comes through . Being okay with it all is what is needed to move through it.

And most importantly, I truly believe that in order to HAVE the unknown, you must first BE the unknown.  You can’t create a new reality while still living in the old. You have to remove the old to create space for the new you have to BE the new reality, and then DO the actions of that new being before you can HAVE it take shape in your physical space.

As we step into living our lives unscripted and create our new reality, we must first stretch ourselves to fit into a larger container. We’re like sea crabs molting and growing a bigger shell. The in-between time is uncomfortable, scary and we can be easily swept by the vulnerable currents of fear and limited thinking, but we know that this molting process is the only way to truly expand.

So that’s what we’re doing. So strap yourself in, and hold tight – it’s gonna be one hell of a ride…!

“By leaving behind your old self and taking a leap of faith into the unknown, you find out what you are truly capable of becoming”.