Have you ever just woken up one day and realized if anything was going to change you were the one that had to do something different? Eight months ago I had one of those moments and I realized just how much of my life I had spent waiting to do things. Waiting for the right person to do them with. Waiting for the right time. Waiting for the right person to have the time. Waiting for finances to be ideal. Waiting for the stars to be perfectly aligned. Waiting. I decided I was done waiting and instead of making excuses, I made two reservations… One for a resort and one for a flight.
The first 8 months of this year were challenging to say the least, and I was beyond tired. When the day came for me to leave for Sedona, I was a bag of mixed emotions. I was excited to get away and experience something new. I was also apprehensive. I had never travelled alone. I was arriving at night, I had to do a two hour drive in the dark and I had no idea where I was going.
Throughout that week I was repeatedly brought face to face with some of my biggest fears and had no choice but to deal with them in the moment so that I could fully experience everything I was meant to on this trip. I remember thinking at one point that the big guy in the sky must be having quite the giggle. Every day I would head out on an adventure with my GPS programmed to where I was going, and every day I would somehow find myself driving up the side of yet another mountain en route to my destination of the day, internally freaking out due to the heights and minimal guard rails. I had no clue what I would be experiencing until I was in the midst of it and with nowhere to stop or turn around, I had no choice but to persevere. Because of this, I experienced absolutely everything I had set out to… and so much more! What was on the other end of each of these roadtrips was beyond incredible and the journey itself was totally life changing for me. I am so grateful that I stopped waiting.
As I headed back to the airport on the final day I was able to see everything that had been hidden in the dark when I arrived. The trip, to say the least, was enlightening and I came home with a renewed sense of strength, independence and courage.
As I think back to my time away and this opportunity I had to travel, experience, learn and grow all by myself, I can’t help but recall my third night there. I was enjoying the most amazing dinner. The view of the red rock was beautiful… then something happened and the view changed. As rain began to move in, the few of us that were dining on the patio sat and watched in awe as a rainbow was slowly and deliberately drawn across the sky. It was only once the rainbow reached completion that the rain became a torrential downpour and we were forced to move inside.
As I reflect back on that evening and those moments, I am reminded of my life so far this year. Sometimes there are storms in life but it is in the midst of these storms that some of the most beautiful things in ourselves appear, take root and grow. And on the heels of my latest personal storm, and with having faced some pretty big fears in order to fully experience this adventure, this was truly the best reminder that even when storms come in, the sun can still shine and even rainbows grow.
Pure Potential 
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