Gotta Get Away

LetgoLetGod

The busyness of life. The simplicity of life. Being over-scheduled. Having the freedom of time. Feeling rushed. Living life at a slow pace. Feeling overwhelmed. Feeling deep inner peace. Feeling unfulfilled. Having a deep sense of purpose.

What life are you living? What life do you want to live? I know for me I want to live a simple life, have freedom of time, feel inner peace and joy while living life with a deep sense of purpose.

I think the majority of us do just the opposite. We are too busy and over-scheduled. We feel rushed and overwhelmed, lacking inner peace and purpose.

LESS IS MORE

I love the idea of less is more. This is the lifestyle I am dreaming about. This is the life I am imagining and working on creating for myself. I deeply desire to make a huge impact in the world and also find a way to do it without sacrificing my health and quality of life.

As I think about how Jesus modeled this, he would preach to the masses and then go be by himself to pray, meditate and be with His Father. How often do we forget this part of our life? Time alone. Time to think and pray. To create. Time to be with our Heavenly Father. Time to just be still.

SOLITUDE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

When I was considering leaving the pharmaceutical industry and moving to Colorado to start my fitness ministry, one of the things that helped me take a leap of faith was three days at the beach. I had three days of complete solitude.

I read the Bible, the Purpose Driven life by Rick Warren and Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. I took two hour walks on the beach. I wrote down every thought that God put on my heart.

I am going to share some of my fears and insights on that life changing three day gotta get away trip.

Our fears can hold us back from living the life of our dreams. I know that historically has been the case for me and something I still battle. As I look back at my journal here were my three biggest fears.

MY THREE BIGGEST FEARS

Fear #1: The fear of being alone. I was married for eighteen years and at the time I went away for my three day gotta get away trip I had been divorced for six years. The fear of being alone is something I have always struggled with.

Fear #2: Not living the life I was created to live. Being unfulfilled. I think we all fear that we are not living our life to our full potential. That we are wasting our time here on earth. Life is too short not to feel fully alive, but the desire for comfort and security usually outweighs our desire for adventure and the willingness to embrace uncertainty.

Fear #3: Money…not having any. I had a six figure job at this time. I had a steady paycheck. The fear in the back of my mind was do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Am I good enough to be successful at having my own business? There are no guaranteed pay checks. Am I going to go broke and end up on the streets? Those were all very real fears that I had to overcome.


I love the definition of courage. Courage is being afraid and doing it anyways. I am glad I had the courage to take a leap of faith and ultimately start my own fitness ministry.

Those were my three biggest fears and here are my four biggest insights.

MY FOUR BIG INSIGHTS

Insight #1: My life moving forward will be in complete dependence on God. I will be living for an audience of one. I will care less about what people think about me and know that God loves me unconditionally. I don’t need to be a people pleaser any more. It will be no more Mr. Nice Guy for me.

Insight #2: I will live a purpose driven life. As Rick Warren says in his opening sentence in his book The Purpose Driven Life, “It’s not about you.” I made a decision that I will be mission focused in my life. I will live for a transcendent cause greater than myself. My purpose is to help people grow spiritually with fitness as the platform. I help people see themselves the way God sees them so they can overcome self-doubt and unworthiness and start to take chances on themselves and in life.

Insight #3: I will be my authentic self. I will show up in the world being me. I will love myself for who I am and who God created me to be. I will be vulnerable and share my story so people can go on this journey with me of living the life God created us to live.

Insight #4: I will be a Spiritual Warrior every day. This is what I wrote down in my journal of what it means to me to be a Spiritual Warrior:

· Live a life of adventure

· Embrace uncertainty

· Live with passion and courage

· Be disciplined internally and externally

· Have mental focus

· Have an attitude of persistence

· Train physically, mentally and spiritually every day

· Look to Jesus, the ultimate Spiritual Warrior as my model

If you are contemplating a big decision in your life, suffering from smoldering discontent or just feeling stuck and bored thinking there has to be more to life than this, I want to strongly encourage you to get away. Even if it’s for a day, but I highly recommend at least a long weekend. It could be the catalyst to living the life of your dreams.

Have I conquered all of my fears? Absolutely not. Have I perfected all of those insights I had from that trip? Absolutely not. I am a work in progress. But I do know that God can use me while he is working in me and through me. God doesn’t use perfect people, he uses willing people. I made a life changing decision in those three days that I would be willing. God knows I am far from perfect.

I don’t think I would have made the leap of faith if it wasn’t for those three transformative days in August of 2016. I eventually ended up leaving my job and moving to Colorado in May of 2017. As you can see this wasn’t a snap decision. It was thought out and planned.

I think many of us think about and plan to make many changes in our life, but we stop there. The big question is are you willing to take that leap of faith. Are you willing to take a chance on yourself? I think the only way to truly do that is to start to see yourself the way God sees you. To be the Spiritual Warrior you are created to be. To step into your greatness. To live a life of purpose and passion by overcoming your fears. If I can do it, you can too.

Troy Ismir, MS

Author, Podcaster, Speaker and Spiritual Warrior Coach

troyismir.com

www.facebook.com/troyspiritualwarrior

Spiritual Warriors Unite Podcast

Instagram

0 comments

There are no comments yet. Be the first one to leave a comment!