This is my third trip to London as a solo traveler.
On my first visit, I scared myself for weeks prior, worrying about getting from the airport to my Airbnb via trains, buses and tubes.
After an adventure at the Tate Modern with my new friend Andrew, I discovered a new world of possibilities, one in which Stephanie, though still nervous, no longer let travel anxiety stop her.
By my second visit in April, I was still slightly nervous, but nowhere near the petrified rabbit I’d been the year before.
And now, on my third visit, the difference is striking. No obsessive research or rehearsal of stops. In fact, I felt bizarrely relaxed in the mass of humanity weaving in and out of conveyances, huddled together in cramped spaces, each in our own little worlds.
Have I grown?
It would seem so. But not by “pushing outside my comfort zone” or “feeling the fear and doing it anyway.”
The growth came naturally as thought and fear fell away. I noticed the stories of anxiety when they showed up. Then I noticed how, no matter how much they made me sweat or fret, they couldn’t actually harm me. They passed on their own.
And somehow, me trying to change them, they changed. Fear visits less often and falls away faster. I pay them less mind.
It occurred to me this week, in the midst of this transformation, that perhaps I don’t have to rid myself of the fear of speaking Portuguese to learn the language. I simply need to practice. Fearful or fearless, it matters not.
We couldn’t turn off our natural inclination for growth and expansion if we tried. Fight it we may, but growth is baked into us, as inevitable as a sapling stretching towards the light.
This growth is always paired with letting go. The old me (travel-panicked, speech-shy, busy-minded) falls away to be replaced by a new experience of me.
If I do not recreate myself according to yesterday’s story, but instead show up curious about the me emerging today, growth occurs without effort.
It’s lovely, natural and easeful.
So instead of trying to grow, a suggestion:
Simply watch yourself grow-ing. Notice as your experience takes shape from the glorious creative power of your imagination. Watch how it moves your lips to form words, your hands to make and do.
Growth is always happening. The flow is carrying you already. You’re in it because you are it.
And if all of this seems too good to be true, too easy to be valuable, then notice that, too. Even this is the flow of creation.
Let yourself be guided by what feels light and lovely.
If growth is always happening, then the real adventure is in noticing it—and playing with it.
That’s what we’ll be doing in our October Workshop: Clients
From Scratch on Wednesday, October 8th at 1pm ET.
Here’s the game:
If all your clients disappeared and you had to start over from scratch, what would you do?
What if you couldn’t use a website? Or you had only two weeks to find your next client?
In this interactive session, we’ll use creative constraints to spark fresh, no-tech, fast-action ways to connect with people and welcome new clients.
You’ll leave with at least one practical, playful experiment to try this month. No websites, ads, or endless tinkering required.
Come join us, and let’s grow into something new together.
https://www.theawakenedbusiness.com/impactinvite/
Yours in love and play,
Steph
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