shine your light, darling.

“I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me.” —Tracee Ellis Ross

This quote hit me in the gut. The space between where I am and where I want to be has always felt so scary, so daunting. I have big dreams that I want to bring to life, but there are so many steps between there and here. When you look at all those steps and all that space, it’s easy to think that it’ll never happen.

But really, you only ever get anywhere by just taking one step forward. One small, significant step at a time.

And for me, this has been the theme of 2024. This year has been all about embracing and taking the steps that keep propelling me forward.

And dang, have they been scary… but so effing rewarding, all in the same breath.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how I was letting fear run the show. Ironically, it’s my #2 most viewed post on Substack. In it, I wrote about how uncomfortable it feels to claim the role of “teacher” or “guide” because I’ve never done it before and because I’ve always felt somewhat uncomfortable in the spotlight.

But most of my big dreams require me to step into that role and to claim that title for myself.

I powered through the month of November just setting arbitrary deadlines for myself. The date that I would host my first “practice” SoulFlow™ class. The date that I would host my first “real” one. The date that I would start working on really fleshing out my syllabus for my college level Introduction to Publishing course this spring. The date that I would reach out to my writing community admin to ask if I could host one of the weekly writing sessions.

All of the dates came and went and I honored each one. They might have been arbitrary dates on the calendar, but they were so much more than that to me—they were little promises and commitments made to myself.

For me, setting dates helps me confront my nerves. If I don’t, I’ll keep making excuses to push things off because I’m not “ready” enough.

The other thing that has really helped me?

Doing it for other people.

To me, this is two-fold.

1️⃣ if you let fear hold you back from shining your light, you rob other people the gift of being able to celebrate you & benefit from your magic.

Sure, by doing the “scary” thing, you open yourself to failure and rejection, but you also open yourself to an abundance of love. You give other people the opportunity to be inspired by you, to cheer you on, to root for you.

A friend of mine, when I was telling her how scared I was to host a SoulFlow™ class, said something that has stayed with me. She basically said that by NOT hosting a class, I’m doing a disservice to the people who need it. By letting fear hold me back, I’m robbing other people the opportunity of being moved and influenced. By holding back who I really am and what I want to share, I am withholding something that could change someone’s life.

What you have to offer other people is a gift. If you let fear hold you back from sharing that, you rob people of what could be beautiful experiences and profound breakthroughs.

And when you look at it like that… it’s hard to argue.

2️⃣ you don’t know who needs to borrow belief from you.

Most of the time, growth isn’t just for yourself. By growing and evolving, and taking people on that journey, you are proving to others what is possible.

Have you ever followed along silently on someone’s journey and just thought, “Wow, if they can do that, I can do that, too!”? If so, you’ve just borrowed belief from them. You’ve taken someone else’s win or bravery and used it as an inspiration for you to chase after what you want to do. You’ve borrowed the belief that because someone else has proved it’s possible, that it could also be possible for you.

By you showing up, you have no idea who is borrowing the belief that because you’ve done it, they can, too.

And what a gift is that. What a ripple.

You owe it to your community to do the things that are on your heart because you never know who is watching you and who needs to pull belief from you. Your growth could be someone else’s catalyst. The ripple effect is REAL. You have no idea who needs to see you show up and break through fear so they believe that they can do it, too.

This also works in the other direction. If someone else really believes in you (like my friend who was giving me the pep talk did), you can also borrow their belief in you to see that it’s possible. That you are ready. That you have all the tools and skills to make it happen. Or use it as a jumpstart to do the thing, to take the jump. If someone else has endless belief in you, surely there’s something to that, right?!

I hope you let yourself shine. I hope you do the scary thing that’s on your heart. It’s there for a reason and YOU’RE the person to make it happen.

The only time that’s promised is what you have today, right now. What will you make with it?

xx

Court.

Live moment from my demo video that I submitted to get certified as a SoulFlow™ Master Practitioner. It’s awkward to watch back the recordings of myself, but I trust now that what comes through is what’s meant to be. I love the moments where I smile as it comes through me.