impRAWvise 

Sometimes in order to truly and fully experience life and turn your dreams into reality, you just have to take that leap of faith and trust. Trust the unknown, have faith that you are in fact always guided and taken care of by the Universe or whichever instance you may believe in, perhaps its a greater force, or just the source of love within, your true, most authentic, loving and caring Self and know that you have got this. The truth is that you might never feel ready to experience those specific things that you really and truly want in your life and keep postponing it until you may find the so called “perfect time, context, or set up”. But the reality is that the circumstances are never going to be perfect unless you take that leap of faith and just do the thing that you keep dreaming of, but couldn’t find the courage so far to bring into manifestation. I do believe that you can truly and fully do anything and everything you set your mind to, but in order to make that happen, sure, the Universe will support you and guide you, but you also need to get into it and do something about it, simply said: make it happen. Perhaps you are never ready, but if you never try, you will never know. And the magic that happens as you tap into the unknown and take one step after another, then, when you are in the right context and its really what you wanted, at some point it all starts to unfold naturally and with ease and grace. And that, my friend, is simply amazing and absolutely divine. But in order to get there, you have to trust, trust the process and allow it to unfold.

At the beginning of this year I wrote a blog post about one of the new goals for this year and it was all about being more outdoorsy and basically spending more time in nature, by exploring some options like running, hiking, and just being in nature and getting in touch with my own source of love within. I feel like I lost some part of that connection due to the recurent stressors that I have encountered especially in the last 2 – 3 years, and like before that it was all so smooth and with ease, I would regularly go out in nature and I wouldn’t have to schedule it or set up an intention about it. But then, as things changed over the years, which is a natural part of life’s course, I easily noticed that I was spending more and more times indoors and it just contributed to feeling depressed and raising my anxiety levels as well as contributing to my overall raised stress levels and panic attacks. So, that’s when I realised that I do need to make a conscious choice and set up a clear intention for the year to prioritise time in nature and outdoorsy activities. What I find really fascinating about this is that I instantly felt so good about it, I knew it was the right thing for me to focus on, but then, just like it was in my early stages of going vegan, I started to somehow sabotage myself or overthink things: I don’t have the right equipment, I don’t have experience, what if I get a panic attack while I am doing this and so on and so forth. I felt really trapped and like I was actually overcomplicating things instead of just going with the flow and enjoying the experience.

So, that is when I realised, just as it was with the vegan lifestyle, in the beginning I thought that I just need to get all this fancy and super expensive kitchen equipment and eat all kinds of exotic foods, practice absolute food purity, make no mistakes and just do everything perfectly (I do have a tendency towards perfectionism and polishing all the details until there is pretty much nothing left, but I am working on it and in time, things did get better) and I thought to my self “oh my God, I am doing this again, thinking that I have to have it all perfect and know it all from the start in order to be able to call myself a hiker, just like I did when it came to being a vegan”. So, that is the moment of truth when I got to remind myself that this is a journey and I do not have to know it all, or have it all or do it all perfect from the start, I am a lifelong learner and if there were no lessons left to be learned I wouldn’t simply be myself, life is a journey after all of a continuous stream of ongoing lessons, and just like I learned to adapt, but stay safe and fit and healthy with the vegan lifestyle and get to know myself better, the same principles apply to this new goal as well. I can just make sure that I have the basic safety requirements checked and then enjoy the hike, the walk, the running process or whatever outdoorsy activity it may be. And yes, it is also ok to be nervous about it and it is also ok to be excited about it. Its a process and its a journey, where, of course, not only the result matters, but also how we actually get there and what we get to learn about ourselves and the world on our way towards achieving those goals, goals that definitely have a specific meaning for us and bring a sense of purpose and joy into our day to day lives.