Okay, so I’m sitting next to someone at Starbucks right now that just inspired the crap out of me.
She asked me if I worked online because she always sees me typing away, and when I told her I did, she immediately jumped into her life story, wondering if it was worth sharing as well on a blog or something.
45 minutes later I gave her an emphatic “YES GIRL!!! GET THAT $HIT OUT THERE!!” as I picked my jaw off the floor, and then promptly scurried back to my laptop to pump this article out to y’all ;)
I’ll refrain from naming names or specifics so I don’t steal her thunder, but in a nutshell here’s her story over the past couple of years which I hope motivates you to go after your OWN dreams and take action as well. You just never really know what can come of it until you put yourself out there!!
Two years ago…
- My new friend was obese, depressed, and in loads of debt
- She randomly flipped on American Ninja Warrior one day on TV and started watching
- It inspired her to pick up the book – You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living by Jen Sincero (which I’ve also heard was a good read)
- She thought that if she could turn herself into a Ninja Warrior that would be pretty bad ass and a huge accomplishment to fight for
- Started looking up Ninja meetups and decided to drive out to one, despite her fears of being “a fat girl” (pretty cool that these exist!! They’re all over apparently!)
- 30 minutes after arriving, she was crying and freaking out and almost turned right around to go home
- She sucked it up and found the courage to introduce herself to a competitor she had recognized, and admired, from the show
- The competitor introduced her to her own personal trainer who happened to be standing there right next to her
- She hit it off with the trainer and ended up hiring her/him? to help her with her own weight loss/dieting/exercising problems
- She immediately immersed herself into the “Ninja Warrior” community, making friends and networking and showing up to events all around the country while training in American Ninja Warrior gyms (yes – there are gyms that are specifically set up for this stuff!! Who knew??)
- And now – two years later – is no longer obese after shedding over 50 pounds (!!) through dieting and working out and completely transforming her lifestyle (as well as her confidence and self-image)
- Is in the process of changing careers to help other women feel more confident and go after their Big Dreams too
- Has paid off 100% OF HER DEBT and is now finally saving money!
- And lastly, of course, is still very much training to be the next great American Ninja Warrior ;)
And you know she’s going to do it too! We both joked that it doesn’t even matter if she trips and falls on national television because she’s already won BIG TIME and everything else is just extra, haha…
But man, what a journey! I’m all riled up over here! It’s just SO cool to see someone on the path they were meant to be on, knowing that for the rest of their lives they’re going to be a-okay after finally finding their true purpose. We should all be so lucky to find our calling like that! And I’m sure she never would have even guessed it either, going back just two years ago…
But you know what?? It took just ONE STEP once she got that inkling of desire, and step by step afterwards she slowly made that progress and connected the dots as she went. Not unlike the journeys of almost every other single successful person we all know as well! Ain’t nobody makes it “overnight!”
Reminds me of that part from the We Bought A Zoo movie actually:
“Sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”
So so right… And can be applied to all areas of our life too – taking that first step in an interview, taking that first step in asking out the hot nerd sitting next to us, taking that first step in investing and not freaking out that all our money will disappear because OMG THE STOCK MARKET IS CRASHING!!!, you name it.
It all begins with a first step, and from there you’re on to the races. (Or you fail miserably and make an ass out of yourself, but that just means you were on the wrong path to begin with! Remember that resume of failures we posted about earlier? It’s all a part of the game! What matters is that we keep our eyes open for *newer* paths and continue giving them a shot.)
And actually, this Ninja journey is pretty similar to my own blogging one too. Maybe not as extreme (I was never in tons of debt or depressed or anything), but I certainly wasn’t on a clear path in either career or finances. I was just going with the flow trying things out here and there, until one day – BAM! The idea of starting a blog came to mind, and I mustered up the energy to get it going to see where it led… And well, we all know how it went from there ;)
I actually just put together the highs and lows of my “story” here if you’re interested in seeing it (in pure bullet-point glory!), but the point is, you never know where this stuff will take you until you put yourself out there.
If you’ve been teetering on the brink of something right now and just haven’t had the courage to pull the trigger, I urge you to please do so today!! Whether it’s relating to your finances, or career, lifestyle, dreams, relationships, family – just go for it!
You deserve it to yourself, and you’ll never regret going after what you want even if you never attain it in the end. It just takes a few seconds of bravery and then it’s out there in the world!
Make it happen! And if it helps, turn on some American Ninja Warrior in the background to help get you pumped up! Haha… I’ll admit I was pretty dubious hearing those words first come out of her mouth, but it was an encounter that’s left me much happier and hopeful today, and you have to take your inspiration where you can get it ;)
Life is full of potential for each of us out there, but if you don’t go after it that’s all it’ll ever be! Potential! And not taking advantage of it is one of the worst disservices you can do for yourself.
*******
PS: As soon as her blog comes out, or she makes it onto the show, I’ll be sure to come back and update y’all… Unless she catches me talking about her first and puts the ninja moves on me, haha… (*goes to hit “publish” real quick before getting caught!*)
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