Chase the waterfall...I dare you!

What would happen if you just said hell ya and figured it out.

I’m gonna need you to buckle in for a moment of realness. This concept may not be super palatable to everyone, so apologies in advance if this ruffles your feathers…that’s the point.

Who, and I mean this in the most disrespectful way possible, THE FUCK snipped your wings? At what point did you start shrinking yourself to become more palatable for the masses? When did you decide to settle for “good enough” when there is a world full of FUCK YES just waiting for you to wake up and chase it? Who hurt you so badly they made you believe your dreams were too big?

Bring them to the front of the room. I have some choice words for them.

As someone who spent the majority of their life trying to make themselves smaller to fit what society expected of them, I am now in a place where I would prefer to watch someone choke on my realness than ever try to shave off bits of myself to fit their narrative of what’s acceptable. And I mean this with all the love in the world: it’s time you take some of this energy and apply it to your own life.

When was the last time you sat down and asked yourself what would make YOU happy? Truly. Like actually sat down and started writing about the life you want to lead. Have you ever given yourself the opportunity to dream and plot and scheme? If not, why?

So many times we push our dreams aside because we got brave enough to voice them to the people we love, only to be mocked or dismissed. Made to believe our ideas were “too big” for the simple lives we’re supposedly meant to lead. How dare we have the audacity to chase something so large and grandiose…

Well, as someone who has made it a habit over the last few years to consistently and repeatedly blow my life up in pursuit of the things that set my soul on fire, let me tell you this:

Your dreams aren’t too big.

You’ve just outgrown the container you were planted in.

Have you ever seen a plant become root-bound in its pot? It happens slowly. A leaf or two drops. A couple more start to yellow. Then pretty soon an entire branch of the plant is dead and you can’t figure out what’s going on. You water it, put it in the sunlight, pour your heart into it, and it’s still not enough.

As a last-ditch effort, you try repotting it and realize the roots are starting to grow through the little slits at the bottom, desperate to find space and expand, but trapped in a pot that’s too small and slowly choking the life out of it.

Sound familiar?

It’s the American Dream we are sold as children. Grow up, get a good job, make money, get married, buy a house, have a kid or six, work until you’re 65, retire, and finally start living your life.

But what life is left at 65? What if you don’t make it there?

There are so many variables that could impact this path, so does it really make sense to kill off parts of yourself to maintain this semblance of happiness? Or do you want to challenge whether it’s worth it at all?

My vote is to challenge it. Push as violently against the bar that holds us in stasis as possible. Never, ever, ever settle. And for fuck’s sake, never stop dreaming.

Because if I had believed the story that my dreams were too big, I wouldn’t have spent three weeks in Bali learning, growing, chasing waterfalls, getting massages, steeping myself in sacred water, scream-crying on the table of a healer who changed my life, eating delicious food, shopping, laughing until my belly hurt, getting a tattoo, and living life to its fullest.

So here is the secret sauce. Lean in close so you can feel the gravity of this moment:

ANYTHING you can DREAM of doing is already yours.

You want to know why?

We can only dream in realities that already exist. If it’s something you can picture happening, then it already has. You just have to take the first steps toward chasing it. If you can conceptualize it in your brain, you can manifest it with your hands. Period.

So if you have been told your dreams are too big, unrealistic, or unobtainable… they aren’t.

Just keep pursuing them until they become reality.

Stop settling for lakes/rivers and chase the waterfalls. Dream in a realm so big it almost scares you, and unapologetically pursue the things that set your soul on fire…even if it goes against everyone else’s “better” judgment.

We all have a set of wings hidden beneath the straitjacket life hands us. Each wing is deliciously crafted and uniquely perfected for you, a fingerprint waiting to be left on the world. It is unfair to hide that kind of beauty behind the comfort of the status quo.

Lean in. Test your wings. Chase the waterfalls. Pursue the shit that lights you up.

So here is my challenge: jump before you have a perfectly clear end goal and figure out the rest on the way down. The free fall might feel jarring at first, until you look around and realize how alive you feel.

Pretty soon, you’ll look up and realize those wings you kept hidden do, in fact, work…and they’ve been helping you see life from an entirely different vantage point all along.

You deserve to live the big, grand, delicious life of your dreams. Nothing that comes into your mind is unobtainable. You just have to be brave enough to trust your wings and jump.

I love you, friend!

Katelyn

P.S. Join us this week for our first Love and Rage group shoot on May 14th, where we’re headed to the lake to steep our little toes in the water and scream into the abyss. If this feels like something you want to be a part of, it’s free, bring a friend and let’s heal together! RSVP here!