In a lot of ways since moving back to Washington, I’ve had to rediscover who I am. There are a lot of things about me that are pretty concrete at this point, but where you live definitely has an impact on your day-to-day realities. Especially when you go from living in a concrete jungle to a small town (followed by a little bigger city) in Washington. Can you say culture shock?! As you’d expect, I experienced some pretty big lifestyle changes and with that, I’ve taken every opportunity to try a lot of new things — especially ones that weren’t options in NYC. While admittedly, I haven’t read Shonda Rhimes’ book, “Year of Yes” yet, I like to think I embraced her concept and have spent the year saying yes to more things. Saying yes to fun things, saying yes to new things and, frankly, saying yes to things that scare crap out of me.

I’m definitely not done with my mission yet, but want to know what I’ve learned so far? It turns out that a lot of things my inner voice had always said “weren’t my thing” or that “I couldn’t do” were often just self-limiting beliefs. I’ve learned that you are exactly what you tell yourself you are and if you’re not pushing those boundaries, you might be missing out on a hell of a lot in life.

I wasn’t a public speaker.

I wasn’t an outdoorsy person.

I wasn’t someone who does podcast interviews.

I wasn’t a girl who ran 5Ks.

I wasn’t someone who liked networking.

I wasn’t a girl who liked working out.

I wasn’t someone who could keep a houseplant alive to save my life.

I wasn’t someone who talks about feelings or talked about tough stuff publicly.

These were all things I told myself at some point and I made it a point this year to work on rewriting my inner narrative. I decided to stop playing it small and instead really put my all out there and try new things even if I ended up falling down or failing miserably.

So this year I…

Spoke on a panel about being an entrepreneur at a University of Oregon student and alumni event.

Bought all of the park permits, have hiked more miles than I can count and bought kayaks to explore the outdoors more.

Recorded my first podcast interview for Bold & Pop with my business partner.

Ran my first 5K race.

Joined several new networking groups and have gone to 3 local in-person events so far and (surprisingly loved each of them)

Finallyyyy figured out a workout plan I didn’t hate and starting hiking weekly and doing strength workouts.

Bought a ton of houseplants and joined a community garden. Take that brown thumb.

Decided to open up about my journey and be really transparent about personal development and the behind the scenes of being a business owner.

Proof of doing me doing some of those scary out of my comfort zone things

Now I’m not saying all of it has been easy or that I’ve loved everything I’ve tried to do but, regardless of the outcome, I made a decision to go for it. Am I going to start signing up for a bunch of 5Ks? Meh, probably not, that wasn’t one of my favorite things, but you know what? I did something I never thought I’d do and that’s what matters.

When it comes to growth, change or trying new things, we are often our biggest roadblocks. We get comfortable with life and hide behind our fears or our rationalizations that we’ll get to it one day. We tell ourselves that some things are just out of reach, we just don’t have what it takes or that we’ll have those opportunities in another phase of life, but I’m here to tell you you’re wrong. And if you wait too long, there’s a chance that day will never come.

So how about today you decide to stop playing a supporting role in your own life and just decide to go for it? What’s the worst thing that can happen? Will you get to do everythingggg all at once? Of course not, but if you have a big ol’ goal, now is the time to start working on the little goals that will get you there. Now is the time to create opportunities for yourself. Now is the time to make plans. Now is the time to put yourself out there and get some practice being uncomfortable. Because it’s usually that uncomfortable stuff, the stuff that scares the crap out of you, that you come out on the other side feeling exhilarated saying, “I’m so glad I did that”. You might not crush every single thing but I promise you’ll learn a whole lot of lessons along the way and that my friend is pure gold.

We are who we say we are and I don’t know about you but I want to be all all-around go-getting bold badass and I want you to live up to your full potential too.