I am announcing this secret to the world again: There is NO WAGON.

I made a post on Instagram about this and I got a lot of feedback so I just did an IGTV about it too! Why not throw in a blog post? In my post and my IGTV, I was relating this to fitness. This time of year Halloween- New Years people throw a giant blanket of excuses called “the holidays.” I can eat that… it’s the holidays. I don’t have to workout … it’s the holidays. I can drink five days a week…it’s the holidays. I don’t need to save money… it’s the holidays. And come January every decides they need to get back on that healthy wagon. But my secret is THERE IS NO WAGON. There is no wagon for health and fitness and there is no wagon for life. Ebbs and flows are natural. Last year around this time I wrote a blog about the concept of tilting, and told you that balance doesn’t really exist.

I am still singing the same tune. This concept is not to make excuses for poor choices around the holidays, but because being at peace with a life that is not linear is the most liberating gift you can give yourself this holiday season. Ups and downs are inevitable. Weight fluctuation is inevitable. You can’t go too far one way or the other without paying the consequences but veering off course a little bit each way is acceptable, normal, and just HUMAN for goodness sake. Instead of relating it all to health and fitness, I’ll show you an example of there being NO WAGON when it comes to your creative pursuits (in my case, my blog but for you it may be song writing, painting, jewelry making, or pole dancing.)

Every year since I have started my blog in 2013, I have started the next year thinking “This year is the YEAR! I am going to become and A+ blogger, I’ll write a blog at least once a week, reformat my website, include vlogs, master Pinterest, learn SEOs and knock it out of the park!” I’m reminded every year that: 

1. That’s not why I started my blog
2. I don’t do well with pressure, self inflicted or not
3. I have a successful coaching business & my blog hasn’t ever been used to make me money..AND it doesn’t have to be
4. It’s really hard to write soulfully every week on top of the other content I produce for my social media platforms
5. My blog= my rules.

I had a powerful conversation with a beautiful new friend of mine who works in marketing full time and also creates content for her personal Instagram on the side. We were at a Christmas launch party for the new app Socialight. We talked about what makes a blog profitable and some nitty gritty details about SEO, website devolpment, etc. I’m already overwhelmed just thinking about the convo. But she reminded me that my blog is for me and my audience. I can use it however I please! If one day I decide to monetize this blog or create a different website with the idea of making money from it, that’s my choice but whatever I want to do with my blog is my prerogative.

Sometimes I get going on an awesome streak of creating content, I’m writing a blog post every week, doing IG live, IGTV, creating freemiums and then a new launch happens in my business, I go traveling, personal issues spring up or I simply DON’T HAVE THE DESIRE TO CREATE and things slow.

One of my favorite quotes is, “Be patient with yourself, nothing in nature blooms all year.” There is no wagon. Just because you have a creative outlet, doesn’t mean you need to do it every single day or every single week in order for it to be valuable. I don’t need to see a post from you every single day to be inspired by your work. You don’t need to workout six days a week for your workout to be useful, valuable or important. I guess what is heavy on my heart is that it’s okay to have those ups and downs in life, both in our career, relationships, mental health, fitness and health journeys and whatever else you can possibly think of.

I just got a call from a dear friend today who is struggling with her mental health lately, I had tons of advice to give her because she was clearly upset and she needed a voice of reason. All of this advice was kind, encouraging, gentle but with a touch of tough love. All of these words were words that I, myself, needed to hear at one point or another.

I am here to simply REMIND YOU your struggles are normal, your ups and downs are okay, you are worthy, your emotions are valid and you are so enough, more than enough. Just the way you are. Please don’t wait to hear it from me. Feel it from you. But if you need to hear it, I will be here to say it again.

And if you go through the darkness, the hurt, the struggle, the pain, the emotional eating, the heartbreak, the grief, just know there is no wagon, for your health, happiness, career that you have fallen off. The ride of life is restless, relentless and never ending and as quickly as one wave of joy comes another wave of sadness may follow. Enjoy the ride. When you haven’t written a blog post in a while, sit down and write (HERE I AM GUYS! lol.) If you’ve stopped eating healthy, make your next meal a nourishing plant filled masterpiece and start from there. The notion that you have to always be perfectly “on track”, “on the wagon”, or “thriving” is BULLSHIT.

And those of you who have stuck around, thank you. Thank you for riding the highs and lows of my life, my travels, my business and my blog. Thank you for being patient when I’m not a A+ blogger creating content every week. Your support and encouragement means SO MUCH to me. I feel safe to create here and I feel like my words help me more than they could ever possibly help you, but I hope they help too! The power of creating to me lies in the fact that I woke up and I had no idea today would be the day a wave of inspiration took hold. I had  no idea this wave would fill my soul and overflow onto the keyboard.

That is why I can’t plan every inch of my content because the power in what I do, how I create, what I share, lies in the humanness. It’s beautiful and damaged, raw and refined, and no matter what I change about my business, my content or my blog, I promise to be true to that. There is no wagon because life is an ocean. Enjoy the ride.