A few weeks ago, I spent a weekend in New York City with my daughter. She’s 17, and auditioning for some of the most prestigious college dance programs out there.
We spent days with students and faculty who are out becoming change-makers, the ones in the arena, facing their fear to wear their heart on their sleeve on a daily basis and allow their very best to not be good enough—again and again.
We walked down busy streets bustling with people from every walk of life, every ethnicity imaginable. We heard dozens of languages as we sidestepped smoky sewer covers and avoided being honked at by taxi drivers.
We waited in line at a bagel shop where a Puerto-Rican twenty-something in a backwards baseball cap and apron loudly directed all the wide-eyed tourists on where to stand and how and what to order from an impressive array of colorful bagels and flavored cream cheeses stacked so high it looked like gelato.
And I never felt more sure I’d witnessed someone who was fully living their purpose.
You see, there’s something about the Big Apple, something about this district of New York. There’s a tangible energy radiating off of it.
It’s a place for dreamers.
For people so hell-bent on following their hearts that they’re actively refusing to get sidetracked by the ever-present fear that they’ll fall flat on their face.
Whether they’re first-generation immigrants risking it all for a startup bagel shop or young people like my daughter hoping to make an impact in the world through artistry and storytelling…
It’s a place for doers.
For people willing to show up and figure it out, to take risks, get creative and work their butt off as long as it feels right. As long as it feeds their soul.
It’s a place for maximizers.
For people who want more out of life than comfort. More than status quo, more than safety and security. For people who want to make life a game of potential and play it with passion.
Who dare to imagine the uncharted edges of their ability instead of how to guarantee that they will never fail, never be humiliated, never be exposed as incapable or not talented enough.
This New York energy is one that I’ve come to know in myself over the past ten years, as I’ve devoted myself wholeheartedly to my own wild frontier of spiritual healing.
This energy began to stir inside me a decade ago when I finally released the identities I’d clung to for as long as I could remember: old definitions of what it means to be a “good woman,” “good wife,” “good mother,” “good person.”
It’s one that took root through a lot of ups and downs, painful realizations, and my share of trainwrecks…until I finally understood how to find and feel my own heart, my own inner guide, my own compass.
And now, where I used to feel fear and obligation, I feel a deep trust in myself and an unwavering sense of choice in every single situation I face.
Where I used to feel anxiety and overwhelm, now I feel passion, surrender, and purpose.
Where I used to feel that I was not enough, now I feel unalterably connected to a Self-Love that has the capacity to hold all of who I am—darkness and light, strength and weakness, in endless compassion.
Soul work is not for everyone. Heaven knows it’s not easy.
But for those of us who breathe in glittery New York air and something inside us comes alive…
…It’s inevitable.
If you find yourself living below your purpose, feeling dead inside, stuck in unproductive patterns and dissatisfying relationships…
…know that a brighter future can be yours. With the right tools and framework, you can create a future as limitless and bright as the New York city skyline.
The world needs your passion, your heart, your wisdom and perspective, your most authentic Self. Don’t settle for somebody else’s definition of who you’re supposed to be.
You were born to be an unafraid, unapologetic, fully accountable, and joyfully aligned YOU. You were born to manifest the Highest within you. And with the right tools and framework, you can.
With Love on the Journey,
Becky
P.S. In January, we’re launching our new cohort for 2025: Awakening Unplugged: A Year of Self-discovery to Open Your Heart and Transform Your Pain to Purpose. Watch for more information in the coming months!