One of the most uncomfortable emotions we can ever allow ourselves to experience is true desire.

When I sit down and purposefully tap into what it is I really want, it's terrifying. I have to close my eyes and visualize that desire — truly live in it, experience the reality of it — even if only for a moment. It's the only way I can know if that dream, that vision is real or a distraction. When it is real, it feels like my whole body slowly catches fire, incandescent warmth spreading from my core through every limb as a full-body "Yes" materializes. Sometimes it even feels hard to breathe.

To achieve this, however, I have to intentionally turn off my brain — that mouthy, fleshy paperweight inside my skull that is desperately trying to keep me from killing myself or doing something it perceives to be catastrophically stupid.

I must ignore my brain with this practice, though.

If I don't, I won't be able to hear the whispers of possibility and truth from my inner cupcake — a term I use for what some call intuition or instinct, and others consider to be the "voice of God." Personally, I politely decline to define its source. Instead, I prefer to consider it a bossy, determined, sentient baked good that lives in the center of my body.

Willfully ignoring my brain is scary as someone who (perhaps overly so) looks to logic and reason and "facts" to dictate my actions — to tell me what it is I think I want.

Unfortunately, that's the insidious magic trick of reality.

Feelings aren’t facts.

Except when they are.

The problem is that life can be cruel.

People hurt us, we make mistakes, we fail, we get hurt. 

We learn to fear those feelings of hope, ecstasy, inspiration, and desire. We start to criminalize those emotions, because when we let them in, we feel the crushing weight of impossibility, of what we believe can never be. To avoid this imagined emotional defeat, we train our heart, our body, and our mind to treat those flashes of intuitive, divine brilliance as threats.

Over time, we subconsciously only seek out what is safe. 

We settle for less. 

And then one day we find ourselves wondering why it feels like something is missing. Why all our work, our love stories, our connections feel empty — a hollow facsimile of an intangible “should be” we were too scared to define when we had the chance.

Stop asking yourself why taking big risks feels so hard.

Start challenging yourself to be honest about what it is you really want and how badly you want it.

Because if you never open that intuitive door and release the dreams and visions and passions that are begging to be let out, all of the risks you take in life will be meaningless and aimless. In fact, those shot-in-the-dark risks will only feel even more daunting because you have no soul-waking love or purpose behind them.

You’ll always lack the insatiable hunger, relentless drive, and visionary problem-solving skills to do and achieve anything because you didn't do the work to define a belief, an idea, or a person worth fighting for. You already have those capabilities within you, but you only unlock them when you fully own up to what it is you really, really fucking want.

There’s a reason why “Moonlight Drive” by The Doors is one of my favorite love songs:

“Let's swim to the moon

Let's climb through the tide

You reach your hand to hold me

But I can't be your guide”

Your dreams are here — in front of you and within you — hand outstretched, as a guide to your future. But only you can choose to take action, to dare to see what’s next. You are the only one who can take you and your dreams into reality.

Wake up. Your life is waiting to be lived.

Yes, you will sometimes shock yourself into stunned, friction-filled silence when you realize what or where or who it is that truly lights you up, and what you're willing to do to attain it. Particularly if you've become a master of turning a blind eye to your own truth.

You will also still need to take a genuine leap of faith. 

Yes, inaction is also a choice. But it is choice to watch others live the life you want. A choice to rob yourself of what could be — or your ability to get closure so you can finally move on. 

So, tell me.

What is it that you really want?

🔥 Listen to These Episodes

George Had a Plan ... Until He Didn't

This is a very different kind of episode. George was recently hospitalized for almost a week unexpectedly due to an inflammation issue with his heart. He's  now home, healthy, happy, and on the road to recovery with a renewed outlook how he wants to approach life.

Weathering the Storm + Radical Acts of Stillness

You cannot be moving forward at all times. Not every moment — particularly deeply emotional moments — should be met with brute force productivity. In fact, sometimes the best course of action is inaction. Sometimes the most radical way forward is to choose intentional stillness.

Genuine Optimism vs. Toxic Positivity

There is a distinct line between possessing a growth mindset that is healthy and creates space for processing your emotions, and demonizing your emotions (positive and negative) as signs of inherent weakness or irrationality. Unfortunately, this line is becoming more blurry in personal growth, as well as entrepreneurial circles. 

🌟 George's Challenge to You About Risk

🗣️ What Smart Folks Have to Say

“Your emotions make you human. Even the unpleasant ones have a purpose. Don't lock them away. If you ignore them, they just get louder and angrier.” ― Sabaa Tahir

"Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday." — Wilma Rudolph

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else." — John Burroughs

“Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.” — Brené Brown