The Fire Inside You

Wow.  It has been entirely too long since I have taken the time to sit down and craft a blog post.  Life happens, man.  Things have been so busy for me over the last 8 months that I just haven’t had taken the time to sit down and put words on paper – or on the screen for that matter.  Tomato, tomahto.  I am not going to catch you up on my life in this post.  That has been happening on Facebook, and you can read all about my life over here.  One thing of note that is worth mentioning: my family and I moved from Colorado to Virginia in November.  Military moved us – again, go figure.  So we sold our house in Colorado, bought a new one in Virginia and here we are.

Okay – now that that’s all out of the way…HERE I AM!  So besides life happening, I also haven’t written lately because I didn’t really feel inspired to write anything.  I need like RIGHT NOW inspiration and tonight, I got it.  Just a little bit of backstory (literally a little bit), I have been in the Air Force for just over 15 years.  I reached my 15 year mark a couple of weeks ago.  Simple math will tell you, I have five years left until I am retirement eligible.  Listen child, I have every intention of retiring promptly at 20 years.  I have very little desire to stay in beyond 20 years.  The Air Force has been good to me, no doubt, and provided me with a great life, as well as many life experiences that I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise.  But when that time comes, I know I will be ready.  Of course, there are a couple of variables (like promotion) that may keep me in after 20 years, but it won’t be too many more years longer.  I like to think that when that magical 20 year mark arrives, I will be ready for something different, something new – and honestly – to be able to paint my nails fire engine red, if I want to.  I am just saying.

For the sake of this blog post, let’s just go with the fact that I am going to retire at 20 years.  That is a mere five years away, my friend.  A little louder?  A MERE FIVE YEARS AWAY.  That means that right now, in this moment, in 2019, I need to be working on my five year plan.  If I do retire after 20 years of service, what is my plan for after retirement?  I already have my college education, up to my master’s degree.  I will probably (maybe) go back to school for my PhD.  I am not totally motivated, though I know there are some people who really want me to do that.  It isn’t completely out of the question, but then what?  What happens if I get my PhD?  I get another cool piece of paper that will be put away in a closet along with all of my other degrees?  That is a lot of work to do for a piece of paper.  I have no interest in doing tons of research on scholarly work for the rest of my life.  I have tossed around the idea of becoming a college professor, but I know how I was when I was a young, fresh-out-of-high-school college student, and the idea of dealing with that doesn’t really ignite a fire in me.

But…you know what does light a fire in me?  Social Media.  The idea of life coaching.  Writing a book.  Those are the things that really excite me and get me motivated.  Honestly.

First – let’s talk about life coaching.  My work is paying for me to become a certified life coach.  I am so stoked about attending this course.  It is quite the investment, but it is something that will benefit me in and out of the military.  I start my courses on the 14th of this month and at the end of the first 30 hour session, I will be able to start doing professional life coaching (shameless plug).  During that time, I will go through all of the life coach stuff (coaching others, being coached, being mentored, etc.) for the certification.  I cannot wait for this and I am so excited to begin this journey.  More on that later.

The other thing I mentioned that excites me is Social Media.  I know some of you are rolling your eyes, laughing, or scoffing at this and that is okay.  Even though Social Media has been around for over a decade, people still don’t realize they can monetize their social media accounts.  Have I monetized mine yet?  Nope.  Why?  I don’t know – I guess because I am scared.  Lost.  Confused.  I don’t really know where to start.  Okay, I kind of know where to start but I don’t have near enough followers and that is something I need to focus on.  Also, I don’t do direct sales/network marketing.  I tried that – didn’t work for me.  I am not slamming it because it really works for some people.  But that wasn’t my passion.  It didn’t light a fire in my being and drive motivation in me.  Social Media influencer.  Shamelessly, that is what I want to be.  There, I said it.  I want to be a social media influencer by way of life coaching.  I want to use the two of them interchangeably and help people become the best versions of themselves.  And social media is the way to do it.  Like it or not, social media is where we are right now, in 2019.  It is not going anywhere.  It is going to evolve and change, yes – but it is not going to go anywhere.

I have started following those big social media influencers like: Brooke and Jason Rash, Grant Cardone, Josh Forti, Russell Brunson, and more (if you have more, let me know because I want to follow them).  All of those social media influencers started somewhere – they weren’t overnight successes.  And I don’t expect to be either, but one of these days – I will be.  And it starts right now.