The only thing we have to fear....

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Back in Elkton, I had this famous FDR quote scribbled on our refrigerator dry erase board.  I look back on that time, 6 months ago, remembering just how fearful Matt and I both were about moving to New Zealand.  About what would happen to Amber, our house, our relationship, our friendships, our future. We feared the unknown, seemingly insurmountable achievements, and mammoth to-do lists, not succeeding.  It nearly paralyzed us into not making the leap to emigrate.  Even on the plane to Auckland from Ohio, I had a mini-breakdown. "What the hell am I doing?!" I muttered through uncontrollable sobs. I was so scared.

Now, exactly three months to the day we left, I have some great news - Matt started his new job today, at a company in a little town in Katikati. And, we most likely have a place to live, renting one bedroom of an amazing house in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, from a beautiful, inspirational family. We're literally living in Hobbit land -- the Shire movie set from Lord of the Rings is only 45 minutes from where we will be living/working. YES, DREAMS DO COME TRUE, but not with persistence, sacrifice, and hard work.

I look at the scared "me" of last year, and this new, anything-is-possible "me" of now, and I realize just how right FDR was.  We said NO to fear, YES to possibility, NO to stagnation, YES to growth, NO to safety and comfort, YES to trusting that everything will be okay, NO to giving up, YES to focusing and working hard.

This journey has opened up my eyes to the very real cyclical energies of the Universe, of fate, of loving, of life, of the Divine. These cyclical energies are not "hippy dippy flower power" obscure, fictional ideas. They are real energies that are mathematically PROVEN in art, science, the Universe, design, nature, and composition in the form of Phi, the Golden Number, 1.618033988749895....., the golden ratio, the Fibonacci series. (If you are not familiar with Phi, here are 15 examples in nature to help illustrate this very REAL concept.)

These energies / patterns / pulses exist within us, our bodies, our hearts, our minds, our dreams.  You don't have to fully comprehend them to know that they are real and that they have an influence on your life and in your environment. However, a major road block that prevents us from fulfilling that natural cyclical energy is FEAR.

I have friends and family who often say to me that they're "jealous" of what Matt and I are doing, or that they wish they could do something like we're doing. I am here to tell you that YOU CAN.  You have to ask yourself if the circumstances of your life are actually inhibiting you from making a leap similar to ours, or are you just saying that your life is too difficult right now and using that as the excuse not to do something, even though FEAR is the real reason for your inaction?

This doesn't pertain to just moving abroad.  It pertains to EVERYTHING you do, from moving, to changing careers, to having a child, to starting a business, to going somewhere you've always wanted to go, to dating, to saying "I do" at the altar, to learning something you've always wanted to learn (language, instrument, art form, etc. etc.)  I challenge you to look inward and really ask yourself why you aren't pursuing what you want to do, and try to identify just how much fear is inhibiting that dream.

I'm still afraid every day.  I worry about Amber, Happy Cat Sanctuary, my house.  But I know that life is made of cyclical energies, and if I keep striving to do good and be a good person, then good things will come back to me - because "what goes around, comes around" quite literally - and life will be balanced. It won't always be easy, and shit happens, but I choose to trust those mysterious energies instead of fear them.

"You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is." - Will Rogers