Live with Your Heart Wide Open

Kristen Markette
Aug 14, 2017
5 min read

Life. Such an interesting concept when we really think about it. We all live in our own bubbles, with our own thoughts bouncing around in our mind, our own family stories and histories, our own struggles, decisions, travels, relationships, so on and so on. It makes life beautiful, all having different stories to tell.

There are times, though; we get caught up in our own stories. We unknowingly allow ourselves to be controlled by fear. We often say “no”, to opportunities, plans, ideas, knowledge, anything outside of what is our own bubble of comfort. We do this so often, we don’t even realize we are no longer acting with an open-mind and accepting what naturally comes our way in life.

Everything is a choice, and as adults we make around 35,000* decisions a day! That is crazy to consider. We hardly notice a majority of those decisions, instead we realize the obvious daily decisions, “What’s for dinner?” but what about those moments when we are given an incredibly difficult life decision?! When you realize your life is at a fork in the road moment, and you have to decide what path to take.

One direction is safe; you can see a visible path with solid ground and some of the obstacles you recognize because you’ve been on this path for a while. Safety feels so good and stress free.

The other direction is unknown; hazy visibility, you can’t even see the steps in front of you, and because it’s unfamiliar all the questions start flooding your brain. When? Where? Why? How? Not the safest path, a little intimidating, full of stress and over-analyzing.

Which story and direction do you choose to take your life?

Zion National Park Tree Hugger JORD Watch

The past few years I made some really big career decisions, that were path changing, and ultimately life-altering.

One year ago I left a job of six years. It was tough and I was anxious because I quit stability, co-workers who had become friends, health insurance, and all of those adult things, to dedicate time and focus on my health, developing Feed The Wellness and to finish school at IIN (which also was a life-changing decision). I cried the day I finally (after a couple years of debating and never pulling the trigger), told my boss I was considering doing something else. I wasn’t even totally quitting yet, I just wanted to warn her that I was. And I am so, so very thankful to have had such an amazing boss to be able to confide in that way, after crying, it made me feel a lot better to finally get that decision off my chest. My last week of work, I got an opportunity at Kodiak Cakes, for a part-time position in LA. I hit a button on LinkedIn and legit had a bill-paying gig within a couple days. How perfect was that?!

After taking this leap-of-faith with my life, I learned so incredibly much about myself, living in Los Angeles, and the importance of surrounding myself with supportive, positive people that would encourage me to find my passion. I never looked back after leaving that position, and I was so fearful that I would. Once I kicked fear to the side, I was actually the happiest I had been in years, even without a stable paycheck.

I gave myself a year to get things going before I would start looking for another job. This time I wanted a career that aligned more with my passion, health & wellness and still have the time to health coach and grow my clientele base.

Ten months later, I had an even more difficult decision to make. Something that fell into my lap when least expected!

Do you ever find that it’s easy to know what we DON’T like, but more difficult to decide what you DO like? It’s like a restaurant menu, we can easily skim over the items that don’t look appetizing, but then we are torn between two choices, and often times leave our meal decision up to our server! (Drives me nuts when people do this for every meal, but heck I need an opinion sometimes too, helps me by asking which meal is most photogenic! Hehe) This is an example of how we are when it comes to making huge life decisions. We immediately call friends and family, we even post about it on social media and then we have people we don’t know giving us “advice” on what we should do with OUR lives.

Why do we look for acceptance from others, and consider the opinions of others…they are not us, don’t know our thoughts and don’t have to live with the decision, yet we still seek solace in their thoughts?

I was given an opportunity to take a full-time position for Kodiak Cakes (remember, I was working part-time for them already!) but I would have to relocate to Utah for a while. I said, “No, sorry, I have to live in LA!” The first time at least. I mean, most companies would have sent me packing and gone on-to the next candidate. It’s almost like they knew I was the “wanderluster” that I am, and gave me a second chance, and longer time to ponder this choice.

I was set on “NO” for two weeks, because the planning, responsible, safe and comfortable part of my brain didn’t want to go through so much ‘unknown’ change. Literally two days before I was supposed to “give the verdict”, I was sitting at a bar with family, totally in my head and I just blurted out “I think I’m going to take this job!”. When I said it out loud, it was the first time it felt real and achievable. It’s like I was washed over with some calming, reassuring, confident vibe, and I started thinking about my “No” through the idea of “Yes” and my heart opened up.

I have ALWAYS told my clients, family, friends and everyone to be OPEN to everything around them. Walk around observing everything around you, only then will you let light and opportunity into your life.

The next day, before my “verdict phone call” ;) I found this super cute, furnished sublet on craigslist, where I am now, and the owner and I hit it off immediately. I knew at that moment that this decision was supposed to happen, and it was an adventure I was destined to embark on.

One month later, I was on the road to Utah. Next time I play the game, never-have-I-ever, I would say, “Never have I ever thought I would one day live in Utah!” HAHA!

My mind is still taking in all the new surroundings, new people and way of life. It will be an adjustment for a while, but it’s all so exciting and soul-fulfilling. As of now, the plan is be back in LA eventually, with this job, but I plan to live the heck out of this chapter in life right now.

After this long story, my main point is NEVER stop exploring. Take detours, smell the roses, get off your phone and look around (but also take a picture!), don’t let others choose your life path, don’t follow the path of least resistance, and every time you say “No”, step back and consider how different life could be if you said “Yes!”

Life is an adventure. We choose which path to take. Get out of your mind, open your heart and ride the waves because the only thing that you have left after saying “No”, is regret of what might’ve been.