The Wildstory Company

We’re about to go way back, because as most of us know, you can’t really appreciate the photo unless you’ve heard the story.

My freshman year of college was a time of complete freedom, self induced stress, and mistakes as far as the eye could see. I was living in a female only dorm at Liberty University with 60 girls, and endless opportunity to learn and also, not learn anything at all.

So the question begged, what the crap would I do with my life?

Did I want to be an English major like I had told everyone before leaving for college?

Standing in my parents back yard at my graduation party stuttering as I was pelted with the same questions over and over.

I just kept thinking to myself, how am I supposed to know what I want to do for the rest of my life. I just got here.

I decided to lean on writing. I had always loved it. It was comfortable. Journaling, scribbling ideas, writing short stories that would get lost over time, poems, jokes and even a mini blog on a website buried deep in my memory called, Xzanga. Millennial moment!

So of course, I quickly purchased my very first HP laptop so I could begin creating magic, or so I told myself.

In all transparency, I was uninspired and spent much of my first semester watching movies that I downloaded from lime wire when I was able to get wifi from the student center.

Fast forward to years later, in my late twenties and post divorce, asking myself the same question I did when I was fresh out of high school.

Talk about crying into your pillow at night. I was a mess and found myself interviewing for a job at a Holistic Chiropractic office.

I learned so many things! It was exciting to be in a place where I could observe and be apart of helping people feel good. Even more than that, it was exciting that two Dr’s were interested in helping me grow.

That’s where I was introduced to WHY statements. One day the Dr’s asked us to write down our WHY statement, and if we didn’t have one we could create one.

I wrote down a paragraph worth of words, because as a writer it’s very hard to condense, can I get an amen!

I was encouraged to take my time and refine my WHY. Really drill it down to be a simple sentence I could share in a moment with anyone.

A couple months after that exercise I remember it clicking and it felt like a jolt to my nervous system. I was able to sum it up into 4 words that continue to hit me right in the heart every single day.

BE INVOLVED TO EVOLVE.

It was beautiful, it felt powerful, it was motivating and pure. These four words continue to help me say YES, and they urge me to say hello every chance I get.

When I am overwhelmed, unsure, regretful and even absent minded – the mindset that if I hold myself back from getting involved then I am not going to evolve in anyway sits at the front of my mind.

It challenges me to ask questions so I can gain clarity and it rewards me when I manage to get out of my own way and accomplish something new.

For instance – starting a podcast, writing a children’s book, finishing stories I have been sitting on for years, AND EVEN building a business.

I’m involved, therefore I am evolving.