Last night, my dear friend, J.R., stopped in for the night on his way home from a trip.
This time last year, J.R. and I worked together in a toxic wasteland of tyrants and ego-driven hell-makers.
Who would have thought—fast-forward a year—we’d be eating a lovely dinner, drinking a bottle of wine, with a hauntingly beautiful piece of river just outside my window? Six-and-a-half acres of pure heaven.
Not me.
At the time of our employment, I was living in a one-year-old custom built home. I slaved for ten years in the car business to build my perfect place.
Yet, it was that “perfect place” that kept me tethered to a job born in the bowels of hell.
I didn’t own the house. It owned me.
J.R. and I made the decision to leave our employer within weeks of one another.
I had to walk away from everything I owned. Cash-in-equity. Take on debt. Get rid of almost all of my furniture because it wouldn’t fit in the tiny house in the woods.
My friend also cashed-in investments and took on debt.
For both of us, it was an act of blind faith.
If I was going to write a book about being authentic, then authentic I must be. And I did, and I am.
Letting go of the “stuff” and embracing the unknown has been the most honest thing I have ever done.
I learned to trust life.
I learned to have faith in myself.
J.R. and I have been richly rewarded.
He has forged a new kind of job: better hours, better pay, and on his own terms.
I’ve had time to write, nap, enjoy friends, family, and be inspired each day by my incredible surroundings.
I don’t know where the river will flow. I make no demands of the universe. I don’t have a “vision board” with expensive homes, boats, or jewelry glued to it. Who in the universe would decide what “stuff” we should be rewarded with and to whom it should be rewarded to?
I don’t think the universe gives a rodent’s behind what riches we have. The tide of the universe flows in the direction of our unmanifested dreams when we put one foot in front of the other. Taking a step towards what’s really important in life. Our goals for a fuller life, richer relationships, peace of mind. If we happen to get lucky and trip into the monetary kind of riches, great! I love what money can buy. Great vacations and fabulous food.
My riches, however, are firmly planted in my new-found freedom. In the creativity I’m able to express and the excitement of putting one size-twelve foot in front of the other—leading me down a river of change. Paddles, no paddles, it matters not. Ah, hell ... I can just use my feet.
I wish you all a river of truth and mountains of peace. You can’t fit that on a vision board.
