Is The Next Step on My Path Short, Long, or a Leap?
These are the choices before me as I walk this path.
I’m very fortunate that I have the privilege of walking the path I’m on. Self-publishing my work, writing full-time, and doing other part-time work to cover my expenses and earn money has been ideal for me. Ultimately, it’s good for my mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health, wellness, and wellbeing.
I watch too many people stuck in situations where they have to struggle and feel a tinge of guilt. Of course I do. That’s because we’re conditioned to follow the collective consciousness and be part of the status quo and all the associated “norms” of life.
Yet, “how it’s always been done” has been true for a relatively short period. It’s only been about 100 years since the modern 40-hour work week was invented. Yet, to many people, that’s how it’s always been and always will be. If you are not a cog in that machine, you’re an outlier, potentially suspect, and questionably contributing to society and the status quo.
I recognize how beneficial to me it is that I get to choose to take a different path. Does it somehow make me less than others? No. Do I contribute to the system positively or negatively? Positively. Whenever I’ve tried to fit my square-peg self into the standard work-model round-hole, it clashes. A lot.
One of the hallmarks of my chosen path is that it’s never singular, one and done, or unchangeable. Currently, I have choices to make to that end. That’s because I’d like to make some changes.
The only constant in the universe is change
Like it or not, change is the one and only constant in the Universe. Change can, will, and does happen, no matter who, what, where, how, or why you are. Sometimes it’s so slow you hardly notice; other times, it’s so swift you get whiplash. But no matter the circumstance, change happens all the time.
Faced with change, you get choices. Ignore it, fight it, roll with it, work with it, alter it, or even some combination therein. When you choose a path consciously, you are choosing to work with and/or alter and/or create change.
Why is this important? Because you cannot avoid, ignore, or undo change. No matter how badly people seek ways to make this so, it’s not possible. Change happens, and it can’t be undone, redone, or done again. Sure, it can often be repeated to one degree or another, but even then, it’s not the same. Racism in 1950’s America has a lot of similarities to racism in 2020’s America. But there are some important differences.
My point is that, as I address the next step on my path, the nature of guiding, directing, or choosing change is part of it. That impacts if said next step on my path will be short, long, or a leap.
This is exciting. Yet it can also be terrifying and uncertain.
What’s the nature of the next step on my path? How do I take it?
I’m starting to finalize the first book in my new upcoming sci-fi series. To that end, I’m going over the edits from my editor and recording the audiobook. For this book, I’m taking a slightly different approach and mostly reading in my own voice rather than giving each character a different voice/accent/pitch, etc. Good or bad? Time will tell.
Also, I’m still debating the exact release date. October, yes. But what week in October? That depends on how much time I want to allow for marketing.
To that end, I’m seeking new marketing approaches. For this new book and series, I want to generate buzz above and beyond anything I’ve done before. That process begins now.
Additionally, I’m seeking new ways to start doing author coaching, expand how I share my philosophy, and ultimately make more money doing it. This is no small feat and takes a lot of energy to work with and explore.
What will it look like as I choose my path going forward? Will I take a short step, a long stride, a leap, or some combination of them all? That’s part of what I’m working on choosing. Some things will be a step, others a leap, and still others who-knows-what?
I am, however, excited to do this. Now I just need to work on being mindful to choose my path.
And I also need to be open to fucking it all up. The unknown can lead to just as much success as failure, but unless you step into it, it remains unknown. It’s in the unknown that you grow and learn the most and experience the potential and possibilities that make life truly amazing.
Choices, decisions, and mindfulness
No matter what my path will be, I need to make choices and decisions. The best ones are mindful ones.
Mindfulness is readily engaged when you ask, in the present, questions like:
- What am I thinking?
- What am I feeling?
- How am I feeling?
- What do I intend with/from this?
- Is my approach positive or negative?
- What am I doing?
All of these can only be answered in the here and now. The now is, of course, the only time that’s truly, authentically real. Ergo, now is when you get to choose and decide any given course of action.
The status quo and expectations for work in this society are easy to navigate subconsciously via rote, routine, and habit. But to choose my path, which is what I prefer, is a matter of active conscious awareness. Engaging in that requires mindfulness.
When mindful, my path might be no clearer, but the choices and decisions available are. This is how I see where I am now, without dwelling on where I’ve been or being anxious about where I’m going.
My path will be chosen more than once
I believe that I’m here, in this world, to be a storyteller. That primarily manifests when I write. But I tell stories in other ways, too.
I don’t believe in destiny, per se. But this path feels like the one I am supposed to be on; hence why I keep choosing it and the variations of it I encounter.
Because change is constant, paths are never singular or one-and-done. How I engage people as a storyteller changes depending on time, location, circumstance, and more. And it’s not always obvious or to the point, of course.
It’s easy to find that infuriating. Sometimes I do. But it’s also an opportunity. Growth and learning come from exploring new paths and making choices and decisions about them. Life is about growing, evolving, and learning. When you don’t grow and evolve, you shrink and stagnate. I don’t know about you, but that sounds just awful.
The paths ahead of me will require steps both short and long, and leaps of faith, too. Knowing this, I can mindfully choose nontoxic positivity to make choices and decisions to be who, what, where, how, and why I desire to be. The net-positive impact that will have on my health, wellness, and wellbeing – be it mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical – is incalculable. In that way, I can achieve the ultimate goal I desire from storytelling: Helping others. Making the lives of other people better in any way that I can.
Noble, crazy, weird, visionary, looney? Very probably some combination therein. But nobody exploring new lands, literal or figurative, does so without mindfully entering the unknown.
I’m looking to define my path and step or leap onto it. How about you?
This is the seventh-hundred-sixty-fourth (764) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share my philosophy because I desire to make a difference in the world and help as many people as I can to find their empowerment with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to share and/or repost where it might do good for you and others.
The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available here.
Also, please check out my author website for the rest of my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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