ACTualized Living W/ Erik

What's going on? Cadre family, coming to you live from Rochester, Minnesota. Had to go pick up my car today, so coming live again from the inside of a vehicle. You know, it's been an interesting week this week. We've had the weather change, and yet, even though it's colder, the sun has been nice. It's been nice to have some sunshine as we have here today. And one thing that's really come up this week that's been on my mind as we think about making actualized change towards more fulfilling, purposeful life, is what we let get in the way of the things that are truly us, the things that interest us, the things that we want to do in our lives.

And often what gets in our way is this fear of being disliked, this fear of, if I do this, it will expose me to somebody who's not worth x, y, and z. And one way that we can acknowledge that and still take action is recognize that regardless of what you're doing, where you are in human society, there are going to be people who don't like you. And I know that sounds like a harsh statement, but it's true, right? We can't be liked by everyone, especially when we're taking action on what we're interested in.

And so what does this come down to? What I like to preach and talk about is value based living. So, making decisions based on agreed upon values, directions that are important to you in your life, and holding to those, despite the fact that it might open you up to being disliked, it might open you up to people not fully agreeing with your perspective, with your choices, with the things you do. And the reality of that is we do things as much as we can and let go of what we cannot control and then take responsibility for what's ours, what we have responsibility for.

We can't control how other people view us. We can't control how other people act towards us or respond to us taking action towards what we find important. But we can control the way in which and how we take action in our own lives. And so that can look like a lot of things for me. Being creative is something that is really important to me, something about who I am, that I find value in. In moments in my life, I've allowed what other people judge as the product of my creativity to get in the way of me even getting started on a creative project.

Because what if it doesn't turn out the way I want it to? What if it looks bad? What if it right? And all these judgment words come up? Can we let things be as they are and then let the judgment piece of it come in only when it's important only when it's necessary for knowing what the next step is in terms of our own growth in different areas skills right and letting ourselves who we are be enough as we are and not the products of our efforts be an example of who we are as people. All this today to say today I want to encourage you to go out and have the courage to do something that you know is important to you despite what others may say or think about you towards what you value in your life and see what happens.

For me, it's going to be sitting down and painting or writing or maybe a combination of both and letting those things be what they are without them having to be anything else here and now. So encourage you with that here this week. Take a minute to enjoy things as they are here and now and we will reconnect again next week. Have a good weekend. Take care. Bye.