The only thing between you and your dreams is the imaginary wall standing in your way.

Here’s what he said, “She went on this amazing trip to Lagos, Portugal and my first question was, “How did you do that?!”.

Here’s what I heard, “I have completely forgotten that I am the one in charge of my actions.”

The past six months of my life have been the definition of a whirlwind.

I quit my waitressing job.

I blew through $5,000 traveling around the United States.

I sold everything I own.

I bought a one way ticket to Costa Rica.

I’m actually writing this as I sit on said plane to Costa Rica. I’m thinking about the lesson that I have learned from all of this:

I am the one in charge.

I wanted to quit waitressing five years ago but I didn’t know how. I felt like life had limited me in the amount of cool experiences I was getting versus others that I watched on social media.

I didn’t want to serve beers. I wanted to travel the world and talk to new people, learn their stories and tell them to an audience of inspired individuals.

Now I am doing that and there is only one reason why.

I decided to do it and then I took action and did it.

What I am finding from observing the patterns of the live’s of people I meet is that 80% of humans seem to have forgotten that we are the one in charge of our own lives.

Somehow we think that everything has been predetermined and if we are currently living a mediocre life than that means we are destined to stay…mediocre.

I can tell you that this isn’t true.

All it took was one decision that I made 5 months ago.

I decided I was going all in on myself and my dreams.

What I wanted, I was going to create.

How?

By taking action.

I wanted to quit waitressing and become a writer, inspiring and aiding millennials to find their passions and create their dream lives.

So what did I do?

I quit my waitressing job and I started writing. I went on upwork.com and started picking up any job that I could get. I started writing for myself, answering questions on Quora and commenting on likeminded posts on Medium.

I wanted to travel more than once every six months.

So what did I do?

I started booking flights and saying yes to spontaneous adventures. In five months I have traveled to:

Las Vegas, Nevada

Boulder and Denver, Colorado

Chicago, Illinois

Birmingham, Alabama

Rhode Island (to see my family)

And now I am sitting on a plane that will land in Costa Rica in three hours.

It took me almost twenty-five years to realize that I was the one in control and that if I wanted something, all I had to do was go and get it.

The struggle we encounter is that we feel as if we can’t…but realistically “can’t” is a figment of your imagination.

Why can’t you? Seriously take a look at your goals and think about why you COULDN’T pull it off.

Money might seem like an issue but it is only as big of a limitation as you allow it to be.

Don’t believe me? I have $400 in my bank account right now and I am about to go and backpack the world.

The wall between you and your dreams is not actually there. It is a wall that you have metaphorically built and then everyday you tell yourself that it is real.

It is your job to start breaking down that wall.

Here is how you start:

Do one thing today that you think you can’t. Something that makes you uncomfortable and scares you a little.

Examples:

  1. Go into a crowded street and yell, “I LOVE MY MOM!”
  2. Talk to the person waiting in line behind you…the whole time that you are waiting.
  3. Donate $25 to a good cause.

Find something that pertains directly to what you feel is limiting you the most. So if you’re worried about what people think about you, #1 is for you. If you are shy and have trouble with your extroverted side-go all in on #2. If you think that you have absolutely no money and that you are never going to live the life you want, you guessed it, #3.

Find your limitation and then find a way to push past it. Create a momentum of constantly blowing your own damn mind as to what you are capable of.

Do

This

Every

Day.

The best way for me to describe the feeling of demoing your metaphorical wall is “Slowly at first, and then all at once.”

At the beginning it doesn’t feel like you are making any progress and like what I’m talking about is a little crazy.

Then halfway through you’ll start to see the light. Then 3/4 of the way in you will find that even though you are not exactly where you want to be just yet-you would never turn back.

And lastly, one day it will happen. You will have the conversation that I did and open your eyes to the fact that that person COULD go to Lagos if they got rid of the wall that stood in their way.

All they have to do is decide to tear it down.