SUCCESS Starts With A Quest For Something BIG...

A few years ago, I went skiing with my family, and unexpectedly, my life changed course.

My mom and I didn’t want to ski the whole time, so we decided to be sensible, split a ski ticket for the week, and take turns on the slopes.

On one of my “days off”, I sat in the Starbucks on the top of the mountain in front of the fireplace and dove into this new book my friend had given me months before called Eat, Pray, Love by an unknown author called Elizabeth Gilbert.

On the inscription, she wrote “I hope you enjoy this as much as I did”. Little did I know, it would change my life.

During that time, I was lost and confused about what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I was meant for something big, but I didn’t know how to make it happen.

Although only a few hours from my family’s home in Ohio, I resonated with Elizabeth’s quest to the unknown and yearning for more and knew I was on a quest of my own.

But at the time, my puzzle didn’t seem to fit together. I didn’t even know what the next step was, but I held onto the belief of knowing that I was meant for big things and prepared to see them unfold (hopefully sooner rather than later).

Unlike Elizabeth, I didn’t get clarity in a year, but a few years later my quest moved outside of the US to London.

I held that same belief of being meant for something big close to my heart and kept the quest alive by exploring different careers, passions, and meeting new people.

Finally, I discovered what I was looking for in the form of coaching (and met my husband), and everything fell into place.

I had the idea for I Heart My Life and felt like I was finally on my way to that “something big”.

And let me tell you, after this year, it’s all starting to make sense.

Looking back, I had no idea what was possible by following my dreams – and my heart.

Like I said, I knew I was meant for something big, but I didn’t know it would look like this or that it could be this good.

(And I’d imagine Elizabeth didn’t know her something big would come in the form of eventually touring with Oprah – amongst so many other extraordinary list of accomplishments!)

But that’s what happens when we take our head out of the scenario, lovely.

Elizabeth could have let her rational mind take over. She could have stayed in that marriage, stayed in New York, continued to write in the same way she always had – but she knew she was meant for more. Something different.

So she got out of her own way…

You see, in one of my other favorite books called The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks, the author talks about ways in which we hold ourselves back and let our “upper limit” get in the way.

For me, my upper limit normally comes in the form of my mind. Something seems too big for my rational mind to comprehend, I worry about what people will think, or I wonder whether it’s too much of a stretch, I overthink things.

See the pattern?

But I’ve done the work over the years and also know that when I follow my heart instead and let it lead the way, well, that’s where the magic is.

A few weeks ago when I was in California, I was talking to one of my colleagues at a cocktail party, and she said, “I figured out what’s different about you: You don’t have a glass ceiling. You believe that anything is possible for you”.

She’s right. I truly do believe that.

So much so that when James and I were watching the Eat, Pray, Love movie last night and he said “Can you imagine what it would be like to have part of your life turned into a movie?”, I didn’t even hesitate.