As You As You Can Possibly Be
JOURNALS AND NOTEBOOKS
You can buy printed reproductions of my hand-painted watercolor and ink Nature Observation Journals and Composition Notebooks on Amazon!
I’ve been working on myself pretty much non-stop for almost 20 years now.
It started when I moved back to California, after living in Spain for 2 years, and I grew super depressed and unhappy with my existence.
I thought my life was over at that point, and that it was time to dedicate all of my focus to doing things like “building a career,” “paying a mortgage” and “saving money for retirement.”
That wasn’t how I wanted to live my life at all, but how I thought I had to live it.
I didn’t really see a whole lot of change in myself for the first 5 years (I was focused on paying my mortgage), and then at that point, things started to shift in my life — or I should say, I made things start to shift.
I started bringing myself back to life again — the real me, rather than the robotic person I thought I needed to be, focused on (read this in a robot voice) career, mortgage and retirement.
I left California at that point and began to live a life that was more suited to who I actually am, inside.
And guess what, the more me I became, the less depressed I was.
And the more me I continue to become, the better my life gets in general.
From a very young age, we’re all taught how to best fit into society.
A lot of those things are important lessons, like: don’t randomly hit people when you’re mad, don’t throw a tantrum in public when you don’t get your way, and don’t make fun of people when you’re feeling insecure (man, looking at internet comment sections you can see that many people didn’t learn these important lessons at all).
But we’re also taught to suppress things about ourselves that the adults around us maybe don’t necessarily approve of, or things that kids shame and bully us for, or maybe we’re told to focus elsewhere if our interests are unlikely to lead to great financial success.
It’s like the older we become, the less we see of our true, unique selves, which ultimately leads to unhappiness.
I’ve been working pretty hard over this past year on becoming as me as I can possibly be, and I’ve released a lot of things, including relationships, that are no longer in alignment with who I truly am.
It wasn’t always easy — in fact, it was sometimes awkward and uncomfortable, but holy moly do I feel better now. And I also feel lighter and more hopeful about the future.
I wonder what this world would be like if each child was told that their unique presence, and silly little quirks, and individual interests were important, and that there was a special place for them in this world?
Because I believe there actually is.
Are you living your life “as you as you can possibly be?” Or are there ways you can bring yourself back to life more fully?
I know there’s a special need in this world that’s waiting for you to fulfill it, even if it’s just adding more joy into the collective, through experiencing your own joy. We could certainly use that!
Hi, I’m Kristen!
I envision a world where you and I rediscover what it is to be human, through connection with ourselves, each other and the natural world around us.