Be prepared for obstacles. You feel very passionate about your philosophies and mission which is stronger than anything that will come your way. You do not get demoralized easily. In these moments you will thrive. Challenges will excite you, motivate you and spark your creativity. Embrace your moments of ingenuity. 

Be flexible in the pursuit of your dream. Life is unpredictable and so you will respond by being open and modifying on the fly. Be prepared to produce crazy, out-there ideas. 

Go, do and work to find answers to your most important questions. Follow your heart, as you always have, and learn as you go. Nothing will appear out of thin air. All you can do is everything you’re doing now and everything you’re about to do in the future. If you are active, it will lead to something, something you can work with.

You do not have to live how others expect you to. Never forget that. Challenge norms and experience the world as you see fit. Follow the rules that matter and ignore everything else.

Continue to be genuinely passionate and excited through every obstacle, milestone, challenge and accomplishment. Be rid of everything that exhausts and brings you down. If it doesn’t feel right, give it up. 

Do not hold on to pain. You have a choice. Do not forget there is a difference between letting go and giving up. Sometimes you have to give things up to find what’s waiting for you.

You have already experienced loss, pain and sadness, and it made you stronger. You will continue to experience loss, pain and sadness at some point in your life. Remember it’s how you handle these losses that defines who you are.

Most importantly, love the journey. Anything can happen tomorrow so appreciate every person around you as this day might be the last time you see them. 

In closing, be what you believe, stay positive and let life unfold naturally. 

All my love,

Amber

 

1. Celebrate bestie’s 26th birthday

2. Have some many drinks

3. Wear sunglasses at night

4. Fail at first kung-fu attempt

5. Be inspired by boy who jumps higher than me

6. Take off heels & repeat.

Three people today called me fearless. I’m never quite sure how to respond to this as I don’t feel like I lack fear. I embrace fear and use it as motivation. From a young age, I’ve enjoyed using myself as a guinea pig for positive, potentially life-enhancing and risky choices that I felt would benefit myself and those around me. I take “risks” because my gut tells me to. I also know the worst that can happen is I find an answer to the question I was asking. It sometimes involves letting go and moving on, which is the hard part, but it’s always worth it. Life is a choice and I’ve learned that what I let go of is what I gain. 

Almost a year ago I asked myself, “can I truly quit my job, sell all my belongings, follow my heart to New York and discover my entrepreneurial path?” Why yes, yes I can. Why yes, yes I did. The path from there to here was filled with bumps, uncertainties and plenty of “are you fucking crazy?!” but it was in these moments of questioning and uncertainty that the words TRUST and WORRY LESS would appear in my mind. Kind of like right now.

I started writing this tonight because of some worry I feel about heading back to New York in one week. Don’t get me wrong, I know without a question that this is the right thing to do. I feel very strongly, more so than anything I’ve ever felt in my life, that this is what I’m made to do. That said, I’ve gone nearly a year without health insurance, I don’t have a lot of cash right now and naturally, as we’re bootstrapping to launch workisnotajob., we don’t get paid until we have cash flow. This creates what I like to think is a healthy amount of worry. I’m aware of the situation and equally ready to grab the right opportunity when it emerges.

It’s in this moment that the words TRUST and WORRY LESS appear in my mind and so I feel calm and remember why I’m doing this. I pause for a second realizing that behind this mix of concern and excitement is the feeling that I’m truly living for what I love. And there’s no better feeling in the world. 

Every time I hear “goal: inbox zero” it bothers me. Don’t get me wrong, I like having a clean inbox. But when I think of my inbox as a goal, I think of Drill Sergeant Amber, furiously replying and archiving, without any care going into my words. I’ve been there. I don’t like that Amber. So I’ve been trying a new approach. Now, I like to think of my inbox as a hobby. It’s a way for me to move my dreams and ambitions forward, and it’s how I communicate with the people whom I care for and those who I feel I can help. Just like any hobby, I do it in my personal time for pleasure. When I have something really exciting brewing, I’ll check my inbox more frequently. I don’t pressure myself to respond to all emails, particularly the ones that don’t resonate with me. They are distracting. I click archive, remind myself that saying no to them is saying yes to myself, and I smile. I’ve stopped apologizing if I can’t reply within hours because I have other things taking up my attention. Most importantly, I put great care and thought into the emails that matter as I never want the communication around my dreams, ambitions and the important people in my life to be a task. They are the loves of my life.