This week, I have gotten more inquiries than usual about how I travel and work and get clients and get paid and create and be happy. The ANSWERS are simple. The actual ACTIONS are where people get stuck. Experts can give you answers all day long. And the answers are always the same. The answers are easy. Visualize. Create. Work hard. Be kind. Think smart. Create more. Socialize less. Do not waste time. Have the end in mind.

The answers, my friends, are always the same.

In fact, I would argue, that most of you already know. You already know how I travel to Paris. I buy a ticket with money that I have earned specifically for Paris. The answers are easy. But the action, ah! There is the rub! The action of actually buying that ticket to Paris is what stops you. You have so many reasons NOT to go to Paris. Instead of creating all the reasons why you MUST go to Paris this year and not wait any longer. Looking at your current situation and taking the necessary action to make real changes can truly be the frustrating and tricky part of the equation.

The good news about taking action is that it gets easier each time you do it. It is like jogging. It is like training muscles. It is like starting a new day (and really, a new way of life) and creating new habits that you execute consistently. It is hard at first. The fear you feel is real and has been cultivated in your very psyche for your entire life. Many of us in our 30s have grown up in a very “play it safe” environment and we hold to that. We don’t understand that truly nothing is actually a guaranteed “safe and secure”. No job is guaranteed to last forever. No amount of playing it safe is guaranteed to actually make you complete “safe” (whatever that means).

When you sit and listen to your heart. You know the answers. And you know–do I want to find a way to live in France for a month? Do I want to find a way to transition out of my day job and become a florist? Do I want to find a way to start really caring about my body and my self care? Do I want to find a way to get a massage once a week because I love them and my body needs them and because I am worth the weekly investment. Do I want to live a life that is different from what I am living now.

When you sit with your hands on your heart and you ask your heart to let you see what you TRULY are wanting, the answers come. And they will probably scare the shit out of you.

Today, I challenge you to let yourself think about what you already know in your heart, but you are too afraid to admit it. Admitting it is the first step, like all things.

SAMPLE OF MOVING INTO ACTION :
Let’s take a sample of my approach to making something happen. On Monday I was photographing a woman who has truly become my friend. I’ve taken her photos each year for the last four years (I love those people!). As we were driving to the location of our shoot she told me about her next big trip to Cuba in February. Cuba has been on my bucket list ever since I saw Robert Redford all tanned and blonde in the movie Havana. I asked her details and for her to send me the link when we were both back online. When I got the link later in the day and saw it was for 5 days in February for about $2,000.

98% of people STOP HERE. They say, “I could never afford that.” “I can’t take off work.” Those are probably the TWO biggest reasons most people do not do a lot of what they want to do. Especially #1. And you are going to think I sound mean and heartless in this blog when I say that those thoughts are LIMITING YOUR LIFE in ways you cannot even imagine. Don’t get me wrong, I know you are thinking, “but D’Arcy THEY ARE THE TRUTH.” And they are. They are your truth because your mind LISTENS to what you tell it. If you are constantly telling yourself that you cannot afford it and that you cannot take off work THEN THAT IS THE REALITY YOU CREATE. See? So easy.

I never tell myself that I cannot afford it (even if I do not have the money for it right this second), and I never tell myself I cannot create the time to make it happen. But more on this later.

For now, I want you to think of something you REALLY REALLY REALLY want. If it’s a trip to Cuba, awesome. To attend a workshop that seems totally out of your budget, cool. If it’s to use that passport you have never used and actually go to Europe–excellent! THINK OF IT, and then tell yourself you are doing it. Watch and journal all of the resistance that comes to your mind and you will see just how much you have set yourself on the path of “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t….” TODAY, all day long, even if you do not believe it…start saying I CAN.

Whoa, shit is about to get real up in here!

“Live life as if everything is rigged in your favor.” ~ RUMI