Last week, I shared Part 1 and Part 2 of this series on what I believe is a true pandemic in the lives of so many.

Getting ready to get ready 

You know, that way of being where you don’t do that thing you want to do, feel called to do or love to do.

Instead you wait, maybe for permission.
Or maybe to learn that next thing you know will get you there.

Where exactly...I bet you’d be hard pressed to define. 

And heck, maybe you’ve been stuck in this way of being for so very long that you have forgotten any other way of showing up…

Have lost touch with your truth
Your default setting. 
Your JOY.

So let’s dive into the finale of this series and start with a short recap…

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PART 3

Imagine if you could be childlike in your daily life. 
Not afraid to fail. 
Not worried about succeeding.
Not seeking approval. 
Not concerned with what others may think. 
Not looking to and fro wanting to know if this or that move is okay. 

That, lovely, is called freedom and is the path to you discovering, creating and living Your Most Delicious Life. 

Grab life by the reins and ride the hell out of it,
Boldly,
Beautifully, 
Unapologetically. 

Because when you do, that’s when you are fully alive.

When you get back to your truth,
Your baby-like roots of JOY,
Of fearlessness,
Of curiosity,
Of all…

Life works.

You may not remember when you took that first step, as a wee-one, but let me just clue you in…

It wasn’t pretty.
It wasn’t perfect.
I was wobbly as hell.

Complete with giggles,
And perhaps a clap of delight.

It wasn’t born out of a need to get it right
It wasn’t done because another told you, you may
Hell to the double no, no no.

It was your birthright.
So you dared
To go big
To play full out.

You didn’t get all up in your head.
You didn’t judge
You didn’t bemoan
You didn’t have a story of why you can’t – yet.
You didn’t have a tale of not enough - yet.

Instead, you screwed it up.
Royally.
Again
And again.
And again.  

Until one day, you did it for-real, 
rock-steady like, 
Confident.

Suddenly you got some Bob Fosse, 
All That Jazz, 
moves happening
Along with curtain calls
And standing-O-s.

See one day 
a leg moved, 
independent from the other. 
Not planned. 
Just happened,
in a moment of absolute flow. 

As all good things do, yo.

OMG, if you don’t catch that,
I may have to come to your word-screen
and give you a shake to and fro.

When you allowed 
this limb to go that way 
that hand to reach out this way, 
there was movement 
other than rock-a-bye-baby 
on the blanketed floor. 

And from that space, place, grace… 
a rock became a crawl, 
a crawl became an unsteady balancing act 
upon the balls of tiny feet,
Fat toes curled in 
and one day a step forward 
and a crash and burn, 
bum-to-floor. 

Priceless. Brilliant. Beautiful. 

There was no looking around for solutions
There was no class to enroll in.
No certification required. 

There was no self-critiquing
No feels of failure.

There was a mom or a dad or another, 
slightly larger being
there to inspire, model, motivate… 

As we naturally learn by modeling, 
do we not?

By listening and watching 
when we are so equipped
But never judging.

At least, not until we get too-smart for our britches.
And then game over on that #true way of being. 

Never first asking
May I pretty please try?

Nope, we go for it. 
No holding back. 
When the time is right. 

It’s not a set time. 
This exact moment. 
That exact second. 
For all baby boys and baby girls. 

It’s not choreographed or mapped out.
There is no flowchart 
Syllabus 
Outline 
Ten step – ha! – plan 
To follow.

There is a knowing within.
A push as old as time. 
And it’s still within you. 

To think it is not is the very definition of domestication. 
Something we think, 
in the West, 
is only put upon animals –
by humans. 

Simply sink into the fact that you lost touch with your natural knowing just as a dog lost touch with its once-natural desire to hunt, kill, run wild. 

But that’s a convo for another time.

As in this moment, 
it’s all about the fact 
that as a tiny human, 
You were once tuned into your #truth. 

No, “Oops, you missed it. Times up. You, little one, don’t get to crawl, as you’re late to your mark!” 

Nope. It’s so unique,
The path we are meant to take,
to each and every little, slobbering baby... 
the perfect time to do that thing, 
a beat instinctually known…

And yet as we stop slobbering 
and often lose the cute factor
We receive less praise
And more critiques. 

We create walls to protect ourselves as
We learn others are watching
And they aren’t always giving Standing-O-s.

As we look around, 
With more false-awareness, 
We see a reality 
That has a harsh judging bite. 

And for some we ache
to return to the giggles.

The claps
The praise
The feel good vibes
And so we strive.

We also tend to forget
That the answers are within. 

Just as those before forgot 
And thus pass down 
the teachings they too were taught. 

Not out of spite
But from a lack of true-awareness. 

That it matters not what another thinks.

That there is no perfect time 
to take that first step.

That it matters not if we fall face down
As long as we get back up,
Brush ourself the f-off 
And call it a TouchDown. 

A TouchDown on the scoreboard of your life. 

What if you saw each stumble, 
each yard traveled
As a mark, a point
On an invisible board of you.

Not good. Not bad. 
A simple dash will do.

For that’s all it is. 

Points that can serve you, 
Teach you, 
Honor you. 

Or a mark that deducts
from who you are being
In the eyes of another. 
Because you care that they see you fall. 

Here’s a secret.
We all do.
Fall flat, on repeat. 

We all 
Stumble. 
Fall. 
And more than anyone knows.

And the true grit, message, test is in
How you react.
What you make it mean.
What weight you give that fall, 
in the moment, and beyond.

How you allow it to have your back
As you step forward with data, 
those points on the scoreboard of you, 
as your guide...

Or weight your ass down, 
a ball-and-chain,
A mistake, 
Error…

OMG, catastrophe of epic proportions that grows and grows and becomes one of many eyes in the storm that is your life. 

If you’re ready to let that old-tired, former way of being go, be sure to check out Part 4, the finale of this series, a section that was first published on Elephant Journal on February 9, 2021. 

It’s where you can discover just how rewarding is it to...

What follows was first published on Elephant Journal On February 9, 2021. 

Take a play from the playbook of your infancy and stop giving what was a moment’s thought. 

Take a rule 
from the manual of life 
we never receive in writing 
that literally shouts, 
the answers are within.

And run down the field of your life, free. 
Play on the stage of your life, with JOY. 
Dance as though no one is watching, 
and mean it. 

As you get one damn shot, 
and to waste it, well…
That too is a choice.

To keep getting ready to live it, well…
That now seems silly, does it not? 

When my clients ask me, What should I do? 
My first thought and response, 
Who am I to say?

If you do nothing else this crazy-year,
consider asking yourself
and only yourself
what should I do? 

And then do what you hear? 

And when you hear nothing, 
don’t judge it, 
just ask again tomorrow. 

Just like you didn’t learn to roll over in one day, crawl in an hour or walk your fine self out of the womb on un-shaky legs…

Now wouldn’t that be one for the medical journals! 

You can’t expect that inner voice of you to wake up and shout answers at you like a preacher on the pulpit of your life overnight. 

What would be possible if you dropped the need for instant gratification? 

What would happen
If you gave yourself grace, space 
and spent your time 
listening for the answers within, 
not condemning 
or looking outside yourself?

If you are feeling me right now, I’d invite you to keep reading because this is a pandemic more depressing than the one forcing us to stand 6-feet apart and mask-up. 

The choices we make 
to play small, stay safe, 
to do the thing that will pay the bills first, 
learn the skill another thinks is the best path…

That may just be what’s keeping you stuck, unhappy and lost. 

And I’m here to say it doesn’t have to be that way. 

When I stopped getting ready and instead owned up to what I’m meant to do, the flood gates opened. 

I often tell my clients to stop pushing on the pull door of life. 

Meaning, if your dream is to write a book the only way that will happen is to sit down and write. 

Meaning, if your dharma is to help animals heal, then start today for those needy little furballs are everywhere.

Meaning, if your dream is to make money, then own it and end the talk, the thoughts of poverty and debt, lack and but how?...

All starts with a thought. 

For a baby, it wasn’t planned but instinctual. Tap back into that. 

No, don’t think about it. 
No, don’t ponder it.
No, don’t put it off.
No, don’t sink into those self-defeating thoughts of 
who am I to talk about that? 
write that?
do that thing? 

Imagine if you show up in life
with a little baby-drool
on your chinny-chin-chin
and know with ga-ga-grace
that you are perfectly imperfect just as you are. 

I created a video of my own perfectly imperfect journey over the last two years that may just inspire you and show you what’s possible when you simply choose to stop getting ready and instead simply choose to do that thing you so want to do in this life. 

What if you had enough confidence to say f-it? 
To just stand up
Take that first step, 
Or heck, bloody crawl, if need be. 

The only thing holding you back is you… 
Harsh, but true.

Your thoughts. 
You. 

Change your thoughts and you change your life. 

If you want to see this in action, press play on this video share. It encompasses a now-version and a past-version of me.

See even though I am a writer, 
I was afraid to share my words as me. 

So many stories of low self-worth, 
lack of confidence, 
not believing I was worthy enough 
to take up space 
let alone speaking… 

I mean seriously, who was I anyway?!

And then something shifted… 
Because I am me. 
The only one on this planet. 
In this moment. 
One of a kind. 
And no one can tell me that is an accident. 

So, I took a step forward, 
and another and another…

And man, have I stumbled 
over the past two years 
of stepping into the spotlight of me.

And guess what?

It’s been fabulous… 
Because in doing so I am creating 
My Most Delicious Life. 

Can you say the same for yourself? 

Leave me a comment and share. I want to know.

And be sure to get on my JOYnotes email list if you liked these words, as I send more of them out weekly. 

If this read inspired you, moved you, encouraged you, do consider giving it a heart and a share on your social media channels and tag your friends. 

You never know who these words may impact because you allowed them to be seen. 

A section of this piece was first published on Elephant Journal and can be found right here. 

Photo Credit: Ahmad Odeh @aoddeh

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