Quit watching the wind.

Have you ever stopped to think about what makes the wind? Where does it come from? Does it ever stop? I mean maybe if you are a meteorologist or science “nerd” (I mean that endearingly, because I am about to answer this question) you know the answer already. If not, let me inform you.

Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale, gases which we cannot see. However depending on the atomic make up of these gases, they will contain different densities and physical properties. Wind is air in motion!

Wind is really caused by differences in atmospheric pressure through the uneven heating of the earth’s surface. Land, water, mountains and forests all absorb the sun differently therefore causing the air in those environments to contain different temperatures. When this difference exists, air moves from high to the low pressure areas, resulting in variations of wind. On a rotating planet, air will also be deflected by the Coriolis effect, (you can look that up) except exactly on the equator. Globally, the two major driving factors of large-scale wind patterns are the difference in heat between the equator and the poles (which causes a difference in absorption of solar energy leading to buoyancy forces, or differences in pressure) and how the earth rotates.

So, there you have it. Even without all the science it is easy to conceptualize and understand the fact that we cannot hold, grasp, or see the wind. We can see the effects of the wind, but never the wind itself. I promise I have a point to all of this. But before my point is revealed let’s take a trip into your imagination.

Take a second to close your eyes and picture this scenario with me:

You are on planet ‘insert your name here’ and everything is going perfect for your life on this perfect planet. You make ‘insert dream income’ doing what you love, you are married to ‘insert dreamy human here’, you have/do not have ‘perfect number of children’, you live eternally with no sickness, stress, roadblocks, traffic jams, crazy presidents or crime. It is literally the most perfect place.

What do you spend your day doing?

You just DO. There is nothing to worry about, you live life, care-free.

Then one day something new comes to your planet.

That something is called WIND.

It comes out of nowhere, you have never seen it before and it carries with it all the things your planet is not. It brings disappointment, fear and failure. Your wonder if your friend is going to beat you for the next promotion, the love of your life starts acting different, (are they cheating?) you begin to get sick (am I dying?), traffic backs up on your intergalactic highways (should I take an alternate route, bike, walk?), and for the first time ever you feel frozen by fear.

Alright come back down to earth for me now.

What would you do in this situation? Would you sit around watching the wind and all the fear it has brought? Or would you continue to act? Let it consume your mind and daily activities? You would want your happiness back, but now you are worried about the “wind” getting in your way. You never had wind to worry about before, you just acted. You created your path. But now, instead of continuing to live your life, because you do still have one, you stop. You freeze. You fixate on the turmoil and how it could get worse.

My point is simple.

In life we waste enormous chunks of valuable time watching the wind. The wind is many things for many people, but mostly it represents fear and doubt around a goal/situation we want to take a step towards. It sucks us in and doesn’t let us go.

Example…

Situation A: You are interested in someone but while staring at the wind decide… If I go and talk to that human they will likely reject me.

You sit and stare at the situation in your mind and fruitlessly (just like staring at the wind) decide what else could happen. I will look so silly when they reject me, my friends will never speak to me again, I will lose 20 followers on Instagram. The rabbit hole goes deep.

Think about how manipulative our minds can be!

“Oh did you see that tree branch sway outside, I bet a thunderstorm is coming, hurry check the news for reports on big storms. Nothing? Okay ask Siri what the weather is going to be today, I just know a storm is coming.” Next thing you know you are driving to the store to stock up on food and it is 75 degrees and sunny outside.

We need to stop watching and chasing the winds of our life and fixate on the walks of our life. Who cares what could come our way, like the wind, there is no true way of knowing. We have to start taking steps. Research says that 75% of the thoughts we have in a given day are negative. Did you read that? SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT. Now we have all these negative thoughts swimming around and we decide to sit outside and stare at them, water them, feed them and let them manifest their way into our perceived realities. Enough is enough. We all have the power to choose.

It is up to us whether the winds of fear or the steps of hope will win.

You may feel like a sower (farmer) planting seeds on a windy day, and the wind is just throwing your seeds (plans) everywhere except where you want them to land. But I say it is better to have 100 seeds land incorrectly with ONE landing right where you intended, versus not a single seed being thrown.

A famous poet by the name of Antonio Mochado stated this in one of his poems,

“Caminante no hay camino”, which translates into: Traveler there is no path, the path is made by walking.

There will never be a perfect path to walk. The storms will always be swirling high in the sky, often invisible to you. You must make your own path. You cannot waste time sitting and waiting for the conditions to be just right. When you stare at the wind long enough you begin to see things, and over time your mind will start believing what you see. Meanwhile you have not moved an inch. Your goals are a stone’s throw away but you are frozen by fear.

Are you going to keep staring at the wind, bottling up excuse after excuse? Christmas is coming soon, I cannot start nutrition coaching now (It is SEPTEMBER). I have a birthday party next week, I will need to eat cake so I will start after that. I go out to eat with friends every week, they will make fun of me if I don’t have a beer so I cannot start having a coach. I am not ready to workout, I need to lose 10 pounds first then I will be gym ready.

I have heard it all.

You have the power to act today. If you are ready to be a step taker instead of a watcher, fill out the coaching strategy form below. I will contact you back to set up a no obligation coaching call to see how I can help you take your first steps towards reaching your goals.

Until next time.

Me trying to be like a bird, I was more like a scared rat. But I did it!

Be more like the birds of the field. They don’t spend time worrying about what to eat or what to wear. They just toil and do what they were created for. What were you created for? I argue greatness.

Love you guys, go out there and be bold.

Lauren