The Beginning of a New Life

After nearly a year surrounded by cornfields, hippies and country bumpkins I was jet setting back home to be with my family and friends.

I landed in Portland with $800 to my name, no vehicle and no idea what I was going to do, but excited for a fresh start nonetheless.I had learned what I needed to learn in order to rebuild my life enough to start the journey of becoming a real adult. Key word here is "becoming". I was by no means a mature adult yet.

Over the next few years I slowly got back on my feet.

I worked in the restaurant industry, graduated college (finally), paid off my student loans, got off of probation, made some new friends and got healthier than I had been in a long time.

I was still drinking alcohol and using milder forms of substances occasionally, but I was hanging out with much better people and not falling back into the dark pit that had once consumed me.

Not perfect, but better.

I got my real estate license and started taking it seriously when I turned 27 and before I knew it, I was purchasing my first home a few days after my 30th birthday.

Something shifted in me when I turned 30 and I've spoken to others who've felt a similar shift when they turned 30.

For me, the sense I got was "Ok, time to grow up now. Time to start focusing on what you truly want and letting go of childish things that no longer serve you." It was a gradual shift, but the knowing ran deep.

I had entered yet another new phase of my life. My interest in going out to bars and partying with friends continued to wane and I started experimenting with periods of full sobriety.

First it was 30 days without alcohol, then 90 days, then 120 days and so on.

The more I experimented with this, the more it became apparent that I needed to stop altogether. If I was ever going to realize my potential I had to remove everything from my life that was slowing me down.

The most obvious thing at that point was alcohol. Quitting would be the catalyst to gain the clarity on how far I could actually take my life.It's funny because I had the intuition that I was going to get completely clean/sober in my late 20's. Long before I actually did it.

I knew then that I was heading in that direction. Even though I knew it I was still, for whatever reason, incapable of fully listening.

That kind of listening is one of the primary reasons that I'm creating this newsletter and (soon to come) my coaching program.

To be able to tune into those intuitions is imperative to your growth. To close the gap between when you first hear it and when you actually capitalize on the message and listen is the key to moving towards self actualization in all areas of life.

To be frank, I'm doing this for you and me.

By writing about this stuff and helping guide others back to their own innate wisdom, I'm simultaneously helping myself find a deeper and more profound sense of the same listening. I'm actually embodying what I'm teaching.

However, I have found that there is a paradox to this...

On one hand you're ready to listen and change when you're ready and you can't "make" yourself be ready. It's almost like an accident that you become ready. It often takes a series of events to happen before you can embody the listening and act on that readiness.My intention is to provide insight and accountability so that you can more quickly get closer and closer to being ready.

Consider me a companion on the the path into the unknown. I'll remind you that it's safe to step outside of your comfort zone and listen to the voice that's gently calling you just beneath the surface of all the noise.

I'm by no means perfect and am documenting my own progression via this newsletter, my upcoming podcast and my writing on Twitter. I'm transforming in real time before your very eyes. You get a front seat ticket to the entire show.

It's nice to have company on the road towards the highest vision of yourself. I'm happy that you're joining me in breaking free from who you were and stepping into who you want to become.

See you on the final newsletter of the "my story" series.

With Gratitude,

Cole "The Colemination" Blackburn