Evan Sanders's Blog, page 41

I’ll Tell You All About It When I See You Again

I’ve been in a deep conversation with myself and very few close to me about the next few years of my life.

There are very large forces at play and the truth is, I might disappear for a while deep into the world.

If I’m being honest, I may never come back.

This year has been many things for me…full of magic and full of hurt, but when I started to hear that calling to go…I really started to listen to what it had to say.

The whispers are strong.

I have faith I will make the right decision.

I will never forget my coach telling me that I belonged to this world…and to never forget I was meant to be a lover.

There’s something about this time for me that’s extraordinary. There are a lot of things going on in my heart that have caused me to really sit down and think. Truth is, it seems like so much exited my life to bring me to this point.

I’m sitting here, 26 years old, getting ready to pull the trigger on a dream, pack my bags and answer my inner child’s love for adventure. But it goes a lot deeper than that. This is a reclamation of my heart, something that has belonged to a few throughout my life, but I never truly owned all of it on my own.

Something about this past weekend changed me. I have spent the entire week relearning how to do specific things and thinking deeply about the things that come in and out of my life. As I said earlier, I’ve never been more open and ready to accept whatever comes my way.

There will always be that “well you should do it this way” voice in my head that says…”Evan, you’re 26, you’re getting older and maybe you should consider doing this.” That’s my critic. It can go to hell.

Or I can listen to my heart in a variety of different ways.

My heart tells me it’s time to take back a lot that I have lost throughout the years and to rediscover a piece of me that was hidden as deep in the depths as far as you could travel. But it’s also telling me to swim upstream. Part of that may be me going away for a long period of time.

When I really think about it, it could be years.

But even in knowing that, I know that I will fall in love with the rest of the world and leave a lot of things behind.

I can see the moment I am in…and understand how big of a moment it is. It’s a life changing moment. Everything shifts if I choose one way or the other. I haven’t completely made up my mind yet. There are still some things that need to sort themselves out, but I am definitely moving in a specific direction.

The song I posted means a lot to me.

One of my coaches, who took great care of me when I was going through a particularly rough time, sent me this song. I knew that pieces of me were changing in ways that I was never going to be able to understand. I knew that my life was going to be incredibly different from that point on out.

But the song also touches my heart because of what I just went through this weekend.

I felt like I met a piece of me that has been buried deep deep within for some time. It was a happy moment…and when I came out of it, there was a touch of sadness as well. I looked back on my life and realized that there had been so much time I had spent without what was meant to come out in me.

In the afternoons, despite the pouring rain lately, I’ve been taking walks and had a moment today where I did realize just how far I’ve come. I look back on the past 5 years of my life, but especially this year and it absolutely blows my mind what has happened with me.

Even in the past months, in being handed a responsibility that saved someones life but left me bloodied, beaten, and limping…I have changed in ways that are hard to put to words.

I’ve seen things that are hard to describe. I’ve heard things that opened my eyes in many different ways. And yet, I held myself together through it all, without sleep for weeks on end and despite wanting to crumble at times. There was no option. Stay strong or lose someone. It took everything out of me.

I always find it incredible how beautiful things can come from such tragic places.

Sometimes, I really do believe, roses can grow in the dark.

It’s hard for me, like I’ve said before, to really put into words what’s in my heart right now. But my heart has been calling for me to go on an adventure. An adventure that would help me reclaim pieces that I have lost touch with. I have been strong for others for such a long time…and over this year…I realize that it’s time for me to truly nourish my own roots.

If I end up disappearing for a while…just know I’m happy.

That I’ve continued to fall in love with life.

And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again.

-Evan Sanders

The post I’ll Tell You All About It When I See You Again appeared first on The Better Man Project.

A Beautiful Mess

I’m a mess right now.

A beautiful mess.

But a mess. 

Truth is, I just deleted 3,000 words, two blogs, that I had written and I went…

“This is absolute shit.”

Command + A … delete 

It was trash. Let me explain this mess. 

I feel like my entire way of looking at things just got turned upside down, inside out, twisted, broken to pieces, smashed all back together again and given a lovely burn with a nice Crème brûlée hand torch.

I’ve experienced things in the past week that have essentially snapped synapses and I can’t think in the way that I used to think. That started off as a bit of a “oh shit” moment, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. I’ve seen things, heard things, and gone places I have never gone before…my world expanded drastically…and now I’m feeling a bit like I’m a newborn deer trying to learn how to walk. 

Hence the mess part. 

Some people hear mess and think disaster. 

This is the farthest thing from it. I am loving my life. I get to heal people for a living, I am experiencing a lot of new thing and meetings tons of new people, and I’m really taking care of myself. 

But good lord do I feel like a beginner again. 

I’m really having a hard time thinking. Thank god that my heart can guide me in a lot of things because I would probably just be staring at my desk all day trying to figure out what to do next. 

All humor aside…I do feel a bit raw right now. 

But raw in the best of ways. 

You see, for a long long time I felt like this past week was going to be a moment that would break me wide open. Boy was that an understatement. Well, maybe just a tad bit shortsighted of what actually happened. Things happened to me that I will never be able to understand. And frankly, even after that moment, it only got more interesting as the beginning of this week continue on. 

I put myself in the hands of a healer/teacher who took me even further. 

So, there’s a pretty big sense of …what…the…hell…is…going…on right now. 

Best way to describe it. 

So here I am, on the floor of my kitchen, drink in hand, writing to you with a smile on my face because I truly realize…I’m not supposed to figure any of this out. Hard for my internal critic to let go of that idea…but it’s the truth. 

Because my heart knows what it knows.

And here’s what it knows. 

All of the things that have happened this year, and to take it even further, in my life…connected in that moment I was in the depths. I saw the perfectly packaged lessons, even though some of them were incredibly hard, and how they taught me irreplaceable lessons. 

Patience. 

Compassion.

Holding peoples suffering. 

Fearless love. 

The list goes on. 

And in that moment, I was shown a deeper purpose. I thought I was here to encourage. While that was true, that’s not the root of it. I’m here to heal. I saw why I was given an old soul. I saw why I went down the path I had traveled. 

And to take it even further, I saw where I was now, the situations brewing in my life and what I needed to do…and another path ironed into the ground heading off into the fog.

Woah.

Woah in a way that’s hard to explain. The reason why I had deleted the previous two posts was because I was trying to make sense of things that were insensible. And…they will continue to be as time goes on. That’s exactly what my teacher told me…that’s exactly the way I think about it now.

But here’s what I do know.

I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I was put here to fearlessly love people and to heal others in any way I could.

But with that lesson this year, came the lesson of learning that I really did need people around me who were going to nourish me. One of my coaches gave me the gift of a “new story”…the story of the Healing Tree. She made it very clear to me that a tree without roots…is a dead tree.

So I grew roots. I surrounded myself with people who constantly encouraged me, who would listen to me talk about what was going on in my life, who would reach out to me and support me, and who sent me all sorts of good energy.

I finally grew roots, and when life ever got stormy, I firmly planted myself in the ground and enjoyed the wind.

Here’s what my heart knows as well…

When I look back, I can see the reasons for why things got quieter and quieter and quieter. There’s an old saying that things all happen at once or nothing happens at all. For a long time, things got very very quiet. And in truth, I think I was being told to slow down.

I had been going at a million miles an hour for such a long time that I had no idea what it was like to connect with what was right in front of me. So that’s what life gave me. Quiet. And it made me anxious as all hell for a while. I truly struggled being in silence.

But as time went on, I grew to appreciate it…and as I lived more and more in the moment, pulled myself off of caffeine, got more sleep and took care of my body in more gentle ways…I started to see things and learn things that were probably always there.

I let myself get lost.

Lost in the woods.

And when I got really lost…I saw that what I was meant to find…as the dead honest truth in the moment.

What was that truth?

“You’re a lover. Never stop loving.”

Throughout my life, there have been many times to hold my love hostage. I felt my wounds scratched from time to time, and when that happened I would recoil. I would shut myself off to the world and lose my way on my path.

I really learned this lesson well…although…it took me god knows how many tries.

But after this weekend, I learned how to hold these wounds and understand that they didn’t define everything about me. I truly did learn that there was a massive part of myself that wasn’t wounded…far greater than the deep cuts…and that I could take care of myself no matter what was going on in my life.

I could stay open. I could leave doors open. I could continue to experience life as it was even if I felt like I was bleeding a bit.

This was new for me. Very new. But what it brought me was far greater.

It brought me a brilliant perspective. One of knowing that this world is full of moving, shifting, and changing things. Things happen. Things change. We make mistakes, we fall, we screw up…but the most important thing of all is that we own it and continue trying.

And for the first time in my life, I truly owned everything about me. The parts of me that were full of light, and the parts of me that were full of darkness. The happiness, joy, laughter, and mischievousness and the wounds that harbored shame, abandonment, grief and betrayal.

In that moment, of truly seeing myself for the first time…I learned how to love all of me. Not just the persona, but the shadow as well.

And when that moment passed, I knew that I could love all of someone else as well…in a much deeper way than I had loved before (which I still think was pretty deeply but wasn’t the entire thing). I could see their entire soul…light and dark…and love it to death.

Where does this all lead me?

Frankly, after a very interesting day, I feel pretty content sitting here on my floor enjoying writing.

I have incredible friends in my life, some of which are family to me. I have a very fresh way of showing up in the world, even if I feel like a newborn deer right now, and I have me. All of me. All of me for the first time. And the crazy thing is…the world now has all of me as well.

So I’m not really sure what’s going to happen tomorrow. Who knows? But I can tell you…I’m open to it…because you never know…lightning may strike.

-Evan Sanders

 

 

The post A Beautiful Mess appeared first on The Better Man Project.

From My Heart With Love

There are such things as once in a lifetime moments. 

Moments that forever change your path. Moments of courage. Moments of bravery. Moments where you are…pretty much scared shitless…and yet you manage to step into what is yours. 

Some over time have described this jump and taking a leap of faith. 

Others have said that you’re going to have to build your wings on the way down. 

But the experience I had this weekend, was by far one of the most impactful, life-changing, and greatest moments of my life. However, it was very very far from what anyone had ever said in a quote. 

You don’t jump. 

You step into acceptance. 

The floor turns completely black…as black as space…and you are falling into the depths, but without the sensation of falling.

You don’t build wings.

You don’t feel a drop in your stomach.

But you do travel thousands and thousand of feet deep, and when you arrive, you land softly, perfectly, and safely where you have always needed to go. And when I arrived, I met, “me.”

That little mischievous boy running around creating mischief in the world. And he looked at me and said things that I will never forget. Things that I will keep close to my heart forever. I stepped into a moment, and I forgave myself. I forgave myself for every decision I have ever made and I let go of responsibilities…things that I was holding for a long long time…that were never mine to carry. 

I saw my wounds. 

I saw the wounds that ran deep within me, and I was able to care for myself in a way that I’ve never been able to do. I held my own hand…and when it was time for that little boy in me to go back out in play, I let him go and he gave me a low hi-five. 

I saw myself, all of me, for the first time. 

And in that moment, I saw everything I was…filled with incomprehensible amounts of love, joy, happiness, warmth…

And I saw something deeper. I saw that I could hold the suffering of others, as I had held myself in that moment, and be with them. Never having to fix them. Never having to change them. But to hold them as I held myself. 

In that moment, I realized I’m here to heal. 

As I looked out across the room, I had come back from the depths with no sense of time and hardly knowing where I was. I saw my coaches…lovingly holding the room. I felt my classmates, holding the space behind me and supporting me. 

My coach goes…”If you could ask for anything right now, what would it be?”

‘Just keep loving me up.’

“Granted.”

I’ve said this in the past…this next statement…”my life changed” and that has been true every single time I’ve said it. There have been shifts that have occurred in my life that moved me deeply. 

But this…this…cracked a completely new path in the ground for me.

I came out of this weekend, the most supportive and loving weekend of my life with a sense of taking up far more space in the world than I was used to…and with this deep well within me full of love and compassion. My heart remained on fire…and as I have come back home over the past couple of days, nothing has changed. 

There are some things I want to keep close to my chest with the rest of the story. Maybe, some other time I will tell it. 

But now, right now, is about something else. 

That was the lead up.

And here’s what I wanted to get into tonight. 

There are, about a billion reasons when you’re living in this world, to close your heart up, get cold, and shut yourself off to experiencing life. I don’t need to go through them…if you’re alive (which you are) you have a good idea of what I’m talking about. 

But something beyond this world, and I mean that in full honesty, happens when you trust your heart fully. I mean 100% and you do exactly what it has been calling you to do your entire life. 

What I went through, I have always needed that. Part of me for a long time didn’t know that in my mind, but my heart always knew. And because I listened, I was taken to a place that left me marked with something that will fuel the rest of my life.

My sight has changed. My perception of the space I’m walking in is completely different. And out of everything else…

My intuition is completely turned on in a way that I’ve never experienced before. 

As I sit back on my kitchen floor, I think about moments that are coming my way…ones that are rooted in intuition…and understand my path entirely going into the future. 

This heart of mine, has always called for my bringing forth of deep love. At times I held that love hostage out of being scared or nervous, but it was all in good intention. That part of me didn’t know any better….and I had to live that part of the story to get here. 

There are loving decisions and choices coming my way. And with each of those, if I stay true to myself, life will continue to bloom.

My life has turned into a field of wildflowers. 

I have been cracked wide open…with nothing to be defensive about. 

There is only love here. Fearless love. Real love. A type of love that could change everything. 

So I’m going to do that.

And travel this untrodden path. 

-Evan Sanders

The post From My Heart With Love appeared first on The Better Man Project.

As The Story Unfolds, It Blooms

My story this year, has been the wildest, craziest, and best chapter of my life. 

That’s not to say that it didn’t come without significant challenges – I think that’s what makes each story beautiful. 

The ups and downs. The twists and turns. The tearing apart and the smashing back together. 

In fact, as far as stories go, the more depth they have the more intricacies exist. I don’t even know where to begin with telling the stories of this year, but I can tell you one. 

I walked into an experience last year. I don’t say an event, situation, or anything else of that nature…but experience…because I knew deep down in my heart that I wanted to become a professional life coach because it would give me the ability to help other people change their lives.

I knew that it would change mine as well…I just didn’t know how much. 

I mean, how could you ever know something like that. 

But what I discovered no this year long journey…a story that closes this weekend for me, is that life is pretty unbelievably perfect just the way it is. Thing is, most of the time we don’t have the patience to watch things bloom in the way they are meant to. Most of the time, we try to manufacture the experience instead of actually being in it.

I used to be someone who thought they could yank on a flower to make it grow faster. 

I think I figured out soon enough that this isn’t the case. And as I grew throughout this year, I learned two lessons that would change my life forever. 

Patience…coupled with intuition. 

As the months have gone on, I’ve settled more and more into a deep knowing that the timing of everything is perfect just the way it is. If I threw away my “should haves” I could show up in what was actually going on. I spent so much time in the past thinking “this should have or this shouldn’t have” and that robbed me of really being here.

And when I showed up here…my heart went wild. 

I was connected, and the experiences I was having were irreplaceable. 

So I slowed even more. I stopped trying to get there and just spent my time here. 

And as that happened…my intuition arrived. 

A deep feeling that within me of knowing things…just not knowing for sure yet. 

And as life would have it, when you trust your intuition and your patient enough to see if it is correct…you are given gifts. 

This happened for me…time and time again. 

But once, it really happened in a big way…and it forever made me a believer in what I knew inside. 

We get lost because we think we aren’t resourced enough, we aren’t good enough, or that we are deficient in some way. But when you really start looking at yourself, despite the mistakes you have made in the past, you can see that you were truly given everything you ever needed to live the type of life that your dreams create for you. 

This year has been a year of dreams coming true. The story of my 15 year journey to a moment that fundamentally changed me down to my core, and now, stepping into a weekend of certification, family, and support that didn’t exist in my life before. 

There were many things, before this year, big things, that never existed and I only dreamed of them. 

And here they are…in full color…dancing around in my life. 

At times, I’m sure we all wonder “is this it?” But my question back to you is…if you really dove into this moment and stepped into moments that frightened you, that terrified you beyond belief with the faith and trust that you were going to be held and looked after…what’s so wrong with this being it? 

I can tell you, from someone who perpetually lived in the future…that this moment right now, it’s as good as it gets. Not only because it’s the one moment that you actually have, but because there are incredible things happening right now. 

Shifting. Morphing. Changing. 

And all you have to do is settle down into your favorite chair outside your house, close your eyes, hear the frogs chirping and drink that glass of wine next to you. 

What could be more perfect than that moment?

“So stay open…who knows? Lightning could strike.” – MJB

-Evan Sanders 

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As He Walked Into The Night

I have always been a man of the moon. 

Whenever it decides to jump out into the sky, something in me calms. 

Maybe it’s all of the memories of looking up at the night sky and letting my mind disappear into the stars. Or maybe it’s the evening walks in the dark listening to the whispers of my heart’s greatest desires. 

But the nights have always helped me slow down and think. 

They have given me peace.

They’ve soothed things inside of me that the days just cannot touch. In the night, my hand begs for the pen and my mind starts to swirl in color. Who knows…it could be that there’s not much color in the evenings as the day is stripped of sunlight…so as my eyes take a break from my mind begins to run wild. 

The night does something for me. I feel at home. I feel safe. But I remember when I was young that I always hated walking in the dark. I couldn’t “see” and that scared me to death. 

But now, I see without seeing. And…in turn…know without knowing. 

Something deep inside of me has stirred. A sleeping moment erupted in sparks as if I was struck by lightning. These types of moments would have set me aflame before, but as I’ve grown, I’ve learned how to channel all of that energy.

All of the excitement. All of the wonder. All of the mystery. 

I’ve channeled it into my writing. I’ve let it bloom across what I’ve been creating. But that energy…it sent shockwaves throughout my body and I was breathing a different type of air. 

Settle.

Settle the stirrings within your heart.

Breathe.

Breathe deep into the colors running through your body.

Soften.

Soften any tension that may be here.

Be gentle.

Things are fragile…be ever so gentle.

As I started the journey of my life this year, I turned into something far different than anything I’ve ever expected. The man who resisted so much turned fluid. At times…ungraspable. 

At times…like the wind.

I realized that throughout most of my life I was fighting a current that was trying to direct me to the place I was meant to go. I lacked patience. I lacked belief. I lacked being in the moment. 

And yet, as time moved on, I learned these lessons and they became a part of me. I asked myself constantly…”What’s the rush?” and truly realized there wasn’t one. 

I started to see stories unfold naturally, even if I was a character in them. I let them be. I let them sprout in their own time. 

A year+ ago, I would have yanked on a flower to try to make it grow faster. 

But now, I appreciate the timing of things. The beauty of how things always move at their own pace and there’s really nothing you should do to change that or try to manufacture an experience.

Because the experience in of itself is valuable…even if it takes longer than you expected. 

To be fully in it, without changing it, is to make full contact with whatever is going on. 

There’s something to be said for living in this way.

It’s turned a barren landscape in my life to a field full of wildflowers. 

What could be more unreal than that? 

As I continue to walk on this path, I’m reminded of the gift of patience – to truly see things grow in their own way and to not try to change it. It is also the mark of a patient mind if theres a deep sense of intuition.

The trusting of energies that come upon you. 

And that, I trust now more than ever

-Evan Sanders

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As I Got Lost In The Trees

I’m not sure where to begin.

I guess I’ll start with the truth.

A truth, I have realized, that has been incredibly hard to talk about. Those conversations have been hidden deep within. The whispers come out during my runs in the morning, in moments of silence throughout the day, and every night before I go to sleep.

The truth is, they haven’t stopped…they’ve only slowed down in their pace.

Thankfully. But I’ve had to take time away from writing to take care of myself.

It stopped. Completely. After I burned my journals, it never really picked up again. The thing that is such a big part of me, knew exactly what to do to take care of me. It asked me to walk away for a while to find out what I needed.

And my heart needed a lot.

There has been something about the past few days that has caused me to move deeper into a reflection than I’m used to. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am graduating from my coaching school this weekend.

As I sit here outside under the stars writing, I think on all of the things that happened this year. There’s truth in these thoughts as well. I harbor no bitterness in my heart…but I do look back with learning eyes.

But most importantly, with eyes of love and compassion.

My world has drastically changed.

When I stepped through the doors of my school last year I was a very different man than I am now. And as the year went on, and I started painting those thoughts buried in the black more and more, I started to shift.

What had scared me forever…diving into the recesses of my heart…those scary and darker places…to confront all of the things that I had kept locked away actually opened up my world.

It allowed me to paint a scene of light with colors that aren’t typically forgiving.

I found my joy again, no matter how hard this year was.

I was able to sit in moments that felt punishing…some of those moments lasting for months…and still “be” with them even though they tore me apart to feel.

I realize,  that maybe I wasn’t being torn apart…but rather torn open.

I spent so much time throughout my life protecting myself I didn’t realize what it would be like to feel everything and anything. Even though some of the things that came in were a rude awakening, I came to understand quickly that these things weren’t so bad after all.

The emotional part of it yes…but the things that come out of it…are very beautiful things.

They are seeds that take time to crack. But when they do, they show you something unimaginable.

I’ve felt lost.

Very lost.

More truth here…

I don’t usually like admitting that…but over the past few months I’ve felt more lost than I have felt in a very long time.

Maybe it was the perfect storm of things all happening at once…but it brought me to this place where I am now…and to be honest it’s not so bad.

Sitting out here…

Listening to the frogs chirp away.

I just haven’t really been the same.

A burning fire turned into a crackling flame.

Like a slowly burning fire at night…full of color and the occasional pop…but never to rage within.

I’ve slowed. I’ve quieted. I’ve “left” in a few different ways.

Which all brings me to this moment.

A moment flooded with memories. A moment full of belief that in the right time, I will wake up one day and things will have shifted in me again…as they always have years and years later.

I don’t know what’s right around the corner.

I don’t know what’s about to happen in my life expect for the things that I’m about to do.

But what I can tell you is that I am open for it.

Whatever it may be.

Bring it to me…challenges, happiness, pain and all. Because that’s the thing that has shaped me into who I am now.

I’m yours.

-Evan Sanders

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As The Mask Falls, The Truth Blooms

Be still.

Be quiet.

Listen.

Watch.

These things, all of these things, feel like they were not here just a lifetime ago. No patience. No stillness. No calmness in my heart.

A tornado used to rage within.

One that makes itself known from time to time just to keep me honest. But most of my days are filled with a much gentler way of showing up in the world. A way where I don’t have to strip this life of its resources and I can just show up as exactly who I am.

That’s a much healthier way of living.

That’s much better for this heart of mine.

At times, I wonder exactly what the meaning of everything I’ve been moving through means. There’s a tone to it all. There’s this feeling that it hard to describe that I can’t really put a name to.

I spend a lot of time relaxing and thinking about things.

Not “thinking” in the way that many would consider debilitating. The…”I can’t stop thinking” complaint. This is a very different type of thinking.

Slowly walking through what’s going on in my life and taking a chance to smile at things along the way.

I feel as if what I was being prepared for…has arrived at my doorstep.

It shows up in the music I listen to…the books I read…and somehow throughout my daily life. It continues showing its face and while it makes me pretty nervous at times I always come back to being excited about what’s here.

There’s something incredibly freeing about this next chapter of my life…something I feel like I have spent most of my life growing into.

This is a beautiful thing.

And at the same time, it marks the end to a chapter of my life that has seen so much.

Experienced so much.

Gone through so much.

There’s a bittersweet feeling to all of this right now because I know that as good as things are right now, they are all about to change permanently.

And isn’t this the one reality of life? Things will change?

They will change no matter what you try to do to stop them…so might as well dive into that reality that everything is fluid and constantly shifting.

Nothing is free from change.

I believe within the depths of my heart that there are pieces of me that are about to come out that not a single soul on this planet has seen.

Shades of my life that have been hidden forever.

A life that has been stuffed under the surface within all of the black…and hidden within those recesses is joy as well.

I’ve lived in such a way that there are depths that haven’t been seen by many because I was afraid to bring those forth.

Many have misunderstood me in the way that I am now…bringing more depth to the conversation has seemed a bit concerning at times.

But what the hell is the point of being alive if were hiding our true selves from world and spending a lifetime behind a mask?

I can’t really see that as living at all.

Over these past 5 years, I have attempted to continue removing the mask piece by piece.

I have been successful at times.

I have desperately failed as well.

This is the truth.

A truth that I will willingly accept no matter what.

And as a piece of that truth…

I will continue my efforts daily.

To become more and more of who I am.

And to become less and less of who the world taught me I had to be.

-Evan Sanders-

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The Light Within & How To Trust Again

It’s complicated…when you’re learning how to trust again.

Some days, you wake up…and everything feels different.

It feels like it changed overnight.

Then moment after moment throughout the day the changes continue to come. They arrive in unison ready to continue the current you’re floating on.

The times where I have felt most conflicted were the times when I wasn’t stepping forward allowing for the light to guide me.

The light we all have within.

The one that knows which way to travel if only we had enough courage to travel it. For months I spent a lot of time pondering which way to head. I would walk in the evenings asking myself the question “What’s next?” over and over again only to have small indistinguishable whispers or bouts of complete silence hit me.

Truth is, I’m starting to think that was the point.

I don’t think there was something next.

I think I needed to be with all of it…in order to make it to this place.

We all have a light within us that will guide us through the darkest of times. That light is always there we just forget to search for it. We forget, especially when we are challenged, to look deep within and see what is already inside of us.

Maybe is the way we live today – always trying to add things on for attention – that causes us to forget how resourced we already are.

We are blooming with gifts…

But have spent so much time either telling ourselves or having others hurt us so badly that we think we aren’t really made of anything special at all.

But that’s not the case.

And it’s so far from the truth.

We each have an endless amount of possibility in front of us…which truly can be scary as all hell sometimes.

Sometimes I find myself dreaming so big that I actually have no idea where to even start. How do I create that? How can I possibly even go about doing that?

The dreams are there…but the plan of attack at times was incredibly hard to see.

There’s a world inside of your mind that can be incredibly confusing at times. Sometimes, it’s good to just get things down on paper and not have to worry about figuring it all out in your head. Sometimes, it’s good to see the words written in front of you so you can just empty what has been roughhousing your mind for so long.

That light…it’s called trust.

Trust in yourself, who you are, and what is guiding you. Trust comes in many different shapes and sizes…

But it’s the thing that allows you to continue moving forward no matter what the situation may be.

And I’m overflowing with it right now.

-Evan Sanders

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You Must Dream Your Dream & Nobody Else’s

Dream your dream.

It’s funny…how I ended up here.

All these years later and I’m learning more now than ever. I’ve learned when to write and when to keep things in my heart and mind settled. I’ve learned when to stay and when to go.

They seem like small things, but in truth, they are fundamental lessons that have rocked me down to my core.

I say that it’s funny how I ended up here because when I look back, things seem (at least from this far out) that they were pretty normal and easy at times. But if I really go back and look at all that I’ve learned, I know better than anyone that it was one of the rockiest rides you could go on.

We tend to look at the past with a tint of rose. We look at our lives in a very different way than we did during those hard times and see the lessons very clearly.

But when we are in it, it’s hell on earth and all you’re looking for is the bucket of water to put all the fires out.

Isn’t that interesting?

I’ve stayed away from writing because I couldn’t hear myself think for quite some time. I know many come to read what I have to say, but I have also learned throughout the years that when you aren’t feeling it and you don’t have something of value to give…keep quiet and let whatever is stirring inside of you continue to grow.

There’s been something stirring for a good chunk of time now and as uncomfortable as it was to be with I let it sit in me.

One of the greatest lessons I have learned in becoming a coach this year is the brilliant wisdom that comes out of being with pain.

When you run into your problems instead of running away from them, incredible transformations arrive at your doorstep.

It’s almost as if the universe gives you a head nod and says, “He gets it.”

As hard as that is for me to do at times, I also know that it’s necessary. I know that I don’t have to like it…but I do have to accept it.

Knowing that things are they way they are is one of the most powerful and yet elusive concepts out there. We don’t want to accept the way things are because we want them to be the way we think they should be.

But this is the essence of cowardice…

Not living in reality.

Reality comes in many shapes and sizes…and all of the colors in the paint set…but its always what it is.

The question you really have to ask yourself when you’re avoiding the reality of a situation is “what’s really wrong with this?” You’ll be incredibly intrigued by the answers that you come up with.

Most of the time…they are shallow as all hell.

I say you must dream your dream and nobody else’s for a very particular reason.

The reason is this: you have to live the life that is being created by you and coming up to you every single second. This is your life. And with life, you only really have one shot. So the question I’ve really been posing to myself lately is, “If I had one year to live, how would I spend that year living?”

What would I do with my life?

Who would I see?

Who would I be?

Where would I go?

For a long long time, I’ve spent many hours working on a dream and pondering what the next steps were without any whisper of a path to head on. However, over the past month…that answer has come to me and shown me the direct path of which way I was supposed to travel.

I know without a shadow of a doubt now…that the path before me is something that I have worked spent most of my 20’s working for.

This, is by far, one of the most odd feelings I have ever experienced. And the feeling is this – all the struggle, the long hours working, the head-down dedication…is about to be completely released from my body once I take that step onto that path.

Everything has lined itself up in the way that it was supposed to (the heavens doing) and I have an invitation to do what I am capable of doing.

My entire life will change.

Drastically.

But that’s the point. I’ve spent a serious amount of time building my wings and now it’s time to fly.

The feeling came long before the vision. I can tell you that much. But when the vision arrived, I knew it was time to step into it.

Funny thing is, I’m not nervous.

I’m eager…excited…and have this peculiar feeling of being prepared.

So if you are wondering about whether or not you should step into your dream. Do it. Dream your dream. Don’t let anyone determine the path of your life for you. You can change it all in an instant. And, most of all, you can trust those feelings that are running deep within your gut and know deep down that they are heading you in the right direction.

So jump.

Take that leap of faith.

It’s worth it.

 

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17 Essential & Brilliant Teddy Roosevelt Quotes

17 Essential & Brilliant Teddy Roosevelt Quotes

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt was by far one of our greatest presidents. Dive into these essential Teddy Roosevelt quotes for some serious perspective from one of the greatest leaders in the world. His words are incredibly wise and spot on. 

Dreams are a dime a dozen. it’s their execution that counts. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











Practical equality of opportunity for all citizens, when we achieve it, will have two great results. First, every man will have a fair chance to make of himself all that in him lies; to reach the highest point to which his capacities, unassisted by special privilege of his own and unhampered by the special privilege of others, can carry him, and to get for himself and his family substantially what he has earned. Second, equality of opportunity means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest service of which he is capable. No man who carries the burden of the special privileges of another can give to the commonwealth that service to which it is fairly entitled. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











We cordially believe in the rights of property. We think that normally and in the long run the rights of humanity, coincide with the rights of property… But we feel that if in exceptional cases there is any conflict between the rights of property and the rights of man, then we must stand for the rights of man. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











I am no advocate of senseless and excessive cramming in studies, but a boy should work, and should work hard, at his lessons — in the first place, for the sake of what he will learn, and in the next place, for the sake of the effect upon his own character of resolutely settling down to learn it. Shiftlessness, slackness, indifference in studying, are almost certain to mean inability to get on in other walks of life. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











There has never yet been a person in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











To befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business & corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











It is a mere truism to say that every nation, whether in America or anywhere else, which desires to maintain its freedom, its independence, must ultimately realize that the right of such independence cannot be separated from the responsibility of making good use of it. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











It is no use to preach to children if you do not act decently yourself. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











There can be no life without change, and to be afraid of what is different or unfamiliar is to be afraid of life. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











At times a man must cut loose from his associates and stand alone for a great cause; but the necessity for such action is almost as rare as the necessity for revolution. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











Credit should go with the performance of duty, and not with what is very often the accident of glory. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











More and more it is evident that the State, and if necessary the nation, has got to possess the right of supervision and control as regards the great corporations which are its creatures. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt











I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well. | Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt

Like these Teddy Roosevelt Quotes? I have tons more great quotes throughout the entire site. BUT! If you want encouragement daily check out my Instagram page here. 

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