Today is the third anniversary of the Get Gutsy blog/community!

On October 1, 2012, I decided to stop being afraid and start actually living my life. After months of planning, I hit publish on this post and set out on a brand new journey.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” became my mantra. It still is.

On the first anniversary of the Get Gutsy blog in 2013, I spent a weekend thrusting myself out of my comfort zone with trapeze lessons and a blog photo shoot.

A year later, on the second anniversary of the Get Gutsy blog, I published the Get Gutsy ebook, a labor of love.

Now, in 2015…today, October 1, on the third anniversary of the Get Gutsy blog, I don’t have anything fancy for you. I don’t have a new product to share. I don’t have a crazy, gutsy weekend to recap. I don’t have any earth-shattering announcements or news.

Instead, here’s what I have to offer.

After three years of stepping outside my comfort zone, this is the one lesson I’ve learned over and over again:

Getting gutsy means stepping outside your comfort zone to live a life that makes you truly happy- yet, stepping outside your comfort zone comes in many, many forms. Getting gutsy isn’t a verb…it’s not a thing to do. It’s not one single action. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a shift in your thinking and being. It’s a mindset. It’s something you work toward a little bit more every single day.

So while I don’t have any crazy stories to share today…or any awesome products to give you, I do have some insights to share.

The past year has been transformational. I thought I knew what getting gutsy meant three years ago, but this past year has taught me many lessons…it has taught me the true meaning of getting gutsy.

Here are some of the major things that have happened. The things that are “gutsy” but may not necessarily come across as “gutsy” at first glance. The true gutsy lessons happen inside of you. Here are those lessons:

I cut things out to create space for what I really want. Listen, at the end of the day, we all only have so much space in our hearts and in our lives. We can only commit ourselves to so many things at one time and continue to do them and do them well and with love and passion. I’ve always struggled with taking on too much, but finally this year, I learned to LET. IT. GO. After creating my reverse to-do list, I’ve reveled in the feeling of saying NO to the things that don’t fill me up with joy and excitement. It’s amazing how many good things can happen to you when you create space to actually let them happen instead of filling your time with other things just for the sake of having something, anything.

I found true, deep friendships. Making friends is not easy. Making friends after college is definitely not easy. I’ve always felt a little jealous of girls who have one or two true BEST FRIENDS. Someone she can call at any time of day. Someone she can hang out with in their PJs on the couch and still have the best time. Someone she can say “I love you” to at the end of every phone conversation just because and not have it be weird. This year, I’ve finally found those friendships and I couldn’t be more grateful. This was absolutely one of the missing pieces of my puzzle and it feels so good to have those pieces fit together once again. My friendships mean the world to me- they deserve to be nurtured, just like any other important relationship in your life.

I learned how to open my heart. Despite my constant lamenting about being single, online dating, meeting guys (blah, blah, blah, blah), I discovered one thing about myself. Up until this year, I wasn’t even *ready* for a relationship, despite being convinced that I totally was. I realized that I truly was in NO place to open my heart for someone else- I was barely taking care of myself and my own needs. I was too busy overachieving and always striving, reaching for something I didn’t even care about. Date after date, I’d wonder why I wasn’t finding what I was looking for. I had impossibly high standards. It wasn’t until this year that I really looked inside myself and found the answer. It wasn’t until this year that I changed my perspective…and guess what? When I changed my perspective, the world around me started to change, too. I have a good feeling about this area of my life in the year to come.

Yoga changed my world. You knew I wasn’t going to make it through this post without mentioning yoga, right? Honestly, this should probably be at the very top of the list for yoga is the reason many of these other lessons have even become part of my awareness. On my mat is the place where many of these lessons were learned. Yoga was important to be before, yes, but this year, I prioritized my practice- I prioritized myself. I dedicated myself to my teacher training and through that transformational experience, I uncovered so many new lessons…so many new opportunities. I am so grateful every day for the chance to get on my mat and explore where my body, breath and mind can take me, if I let it.

I found myself. And guess what? I really like what I’ve found. No doubt, things have changed over the past year. I stopped striving so much for external success. I stopped constantly creating products and churning out blog post after blog post. I stopped with the overachieving. I stopped putting so much pressure on myself. Know what I learned? You can still be happy, successful and whole without any of these external factors. In fact, you can be MORE happy, successful and whole when you just let things be the way they are and trust that the universe gives you exactly what you need, when you need it.

So, here’s to another year of getting gutsy! Another year filled with challenges, excitement and opportunity. Another year filled with more lessons, more self-discovery and more exploration.

As I said at the end of my very first post on this blog three years ago, “Bold is better than boring, right?” Right.

Let’s keep going.

Thank YOU for being here. Your incredible support and love for the Get Gutsy community are the reasons I continue to leap outside my comfort zone, create useful and inspiring content and keep pushing forward on this gutsy journey. Here’s to another year!

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