Just do It Tag

just. start. driving.

We all talk. We say we want this and that, we pretend we’re fully committed, we make ourselves feel good by chipping away tiny line items on our never ending to-do lists, years pass, and we never get anywhere, or at least anywhere close to where we actually want to be.

Squirrel!

Am I talking about you? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Me too.

We swirl in this purgatory place of half-committed, because life get’s in the way…of life; money, kids, relationships, laundry, rinse and repeat. We ignore the truth, our true desires, we busy and distract ourselves, we worry, we help other people first, and there we are 10 years later.

As in, quite literally, 10 years later.

Blue Lollipop Road kicks off year #10 on October 16th. (TEN YEARS!) When realizing that upcoming birthday during the past few months this summer, along with looking at what my work life had become, (off track from what I’ve really wanted and been trying to do all these years), I decided to call bullshit on myself, and draw my deepest line in the sand yet. I’m a big believer in accountability and willingness to publicly embarrass oneself. Want to light a fire under your own ass even though you know you have the capability of doing “it” on your own? Tell the world you’re going to do something big. Hopefully your world will continue to call you out regularly until you do that thing. (You better believe if you ever tell me you have a burning desire to do something, I will poke you and give you positive grief until you do it. I expect the same in return, so thank you to those of you who always give it right back to me.)

Vacant Apartment

Vacant Apartment

As you can see from the above now empty living space photos, Elvis (Diane) has left the building. Why? To go where? You’ll just have to keep following here to see what’s next.

Would you believe this minimalist, who cares about a space it is only a space and I can make home anywhere! – threw two temper tantrums during her move the other day? Two! As in crying and throwing fists in the air with frustration looking and sounding like that spawn of Satan child in the Target check out line who’s mom said she couldn’t have the M&M’s. It was slightly horrifying. Thank goodness only one person saw, and luckily he still wants to be around me. Who knew I had fallen so much in love with my cozy comfort zone space and habits. All the more reason to jump into a new controlled fire, to keep that light under my ass burning hot. Want to make things happen? Sacrifice, baby.

Crazy how we all like so much, to stay snuggled tight under our warm blankets of complacency, not nearly as alive as we think we are.

As I sit here in my new fire, 110% committed to my one big career goal that maybe should’ve been completed years ago, but probably couldn’t have had the chance to be as great as it will be until now, those annoying little negative, fearful, I must be crazy, worry gnomes are trying their hardest to get a ticket to my party again. Sorry bitches! Ain’t no room for you up in my celebration station anymore! I just took a blow torch to that cozy comfort zone blanket soiree, so I could stand here awkwardly naked, strong and proud, ready to put back on only the layers that fit completely authentically.

Soon I will launch a sparkly new writing project here. I guarantee you’ll dig it, and be able to see a lot of yourself in what’s to come. Happy almost birthday to my sweet baby blue!

I hope you go out today, and get all kinds of naked. Nobody has this life perfectly figured out. All you can do is strip yourself down to your core and hop in the car. Somehow the road is always right there.

#LessPlanningMoreDoing #LifeOutsideTheDroneZone #TodayIsTheDay

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867 reasons you should have a dance party

Actually, just 1:

Because It’s fun.

I went to the BOB Awards tonight. It was a blast. I went with a crew, one of whom at one point (on the dance floor) said; “This makes me want to take off my boots!…and then he did. It was awesome, we laughed and strangers took photos.

We “snuck” (no one was paying attention to any one or any thing- so why not), into the VIP lounge a few times to get cocktails and treats from the s’mores bar. (Hello dripping, melty chocolate fountain!) We were the group that started the dance party. I personally never need an invitation to get the floor moving and was glad I was with a group that didn’t either.

It’s close to midnight on a Saturday night, and as I type in silence smiling from a great time after my party has ended for the night, I’m hoping everyone is out there in this big world living a little bit of eff-it! – just letting go and having fun. Whether you stayed in or went out, and whether you got wild or stayed calm, remember, there are no rules. What you do with your life is YOUR CHOICE. We should care a lot less about what other people think, we should get that dance floor moving even when (especially when), we’re sober, we should laugh loud enough that our face hurts, and we should sneak into the VIP lounge (ahem…in everyone situation), like we own it. Take initiative, don’t ask for permission, and…

…dance my friends, just dance.

#GetYourGrooveOn #WhenInDoubtBeyonceItOut #Fearless

BOB awards

Bonus fun if you strike a pose with a friend on the way out the door and see how long you can hold your Blue Steel face without cracking up.

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the things we think, and do not say

This Jerry McGuire scene is one of my absolute favorites, and pops in my head weekly when the same conversation with everyone in my personal and professional life, seems to play on repeat mode:

“Do other people think about this stuff?”

(Forget the sports specific theme here, and roll with this for me.) And scene:

Many of us live in pain, locked in and loaded with fear of being judged at every turn, we suppress huge parts of who we are or what we want because we think we’re going to disappoint someone else. We’re convinced the wheels will fly straight off the bus of life going 100 miles per hour if we speak up about what we really think is right. We’re adults. We’re supposed to stay in our lane, act like it, and not ruffle any feathers.

What a bunch of crap that is! I’m thinking we should all be a little more like Jerry.

“I had lost the ability to bullshit.”

“It was the me that I’d always wanted to be.” 

“I was 35. I had started my life. 

We should bullshit a lot less, be who we want to be, and start life now if we haven’t already, at 35, 45, or 85 because we can and It’s never too late. We should shout from the rooftops about what we’re passionate about, stand up for what we believe in and speak up about what matters. When a “who’s with me!” fails (because it sometimes will) and when it seems like everyone around us thinks we’ve lost our minds (which they sometimes will), we will at least sleep good at night knowing we left it all out there on the dance floor.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never met a beer bellied old man at the end of his life on any porch I’ve ever sat on, who’s told me he wished he’d never spoken up.

Today is the day. Show yourself “the money,” baby!

#ThinkItSayItDoIt #LessFearMoreActionHappyLife #ThanksJerry

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get lost

Three cheers for this piece! (Thanks to my brother for sending:)

If you’ve never disappeared by yourself, taken off, hit the road, please do it now- it will change your life forever. For real. (And it is summertime, so extra easy to just jump in the car.)

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Solo Travel

Solo Travel

Want to figure out what you’re made of? Build your independence and find your badass? Gain some clarity about something? Go hike, drive, bike, sit, walk, run, explore- and do it alone. It will be a pretty amazing experience and will teach you things you never expected.

Happy trails my friends! So many possibilities await…

#SoloTravel #JustDoIt #JumpIn

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