When seeds are planted...
I teach my clients a lot about goal setting, detaching from the outcome, and listening to the Universe. While I teach these practices, I don’t often share my own stories. So, this is for all of you who want to see it happen first hand.
Last year, somewhere around the summer of 2018, a seed was planted in my mind that I couldn’t shake.
People have said to me for years, “I can’t wait until you have a restaurant someday.,” and I truthfully never thought anything of it. Opening a restaurant felt like it was lightyears away from my current reality - and it seemed like something you did when you “had your life together,” or something like that. However, when two of my dear friends and old clients sent me a link to a food hall opening in OKC that was looking for chefs to open their own concept - I was intrigued. It seemed “easier” than opening my own brick & mortar, right?
So, I applied. I applied with so little effort that I was almost asking for them to not choose me. But then I was accepted to round two, and then to round three - and then I was selected. I, a 24 year old health coach, was selected to open my first food concept in the heart of midtown. This was BIG, or so it seemed.
Throughout months of recipe testing, developing spreadsheets, formulating budgets, crying from stress, and jumping from joy - it just felt hard. I felt like I was pulling a resistance band with every little task. I kept thinking, “why is this not working?” I am a firm believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason - so I knew that there was no way I was selected to open a restaurant just to give up half way through the process. But sometimes I wanted to. So much so that I thought I needed to go on a vacation to regain clarity and take a break.
Coming home from vacation, all I knew was that I wanted to open a restaurant - and I truly knew this was something I was supposed to do, so there I went trying to make this thing happen. A few days after returning home, a friend of mine who’s a banker and knows a thing or two about opening restaurants said “I think you should rethink this.” That was hard to hear. I didn’t want to listen, but I knew I was supposed to hear those words.
After a few days of meditation, journaling, walking, and listening to countless hours of “You are a Badass,” another friend called me and asked if I was looking for a space for my coaching practice and maybe a little retail shop. “Well, maybe,” I thought. “I could come look at it.”
I walked into this space and knew. This was not for my coaching practice, this was for Plant.
All of a sudden my energy was back, my passion was back, and I felt high on life. It was everything I had ever envisioned and more. It felt like home. I had no idea how I was ever going to make this space happen - considering having my own brick & mortar is way more of a task than going into a food hall that was ready and waiting on me. All I knew is I was going to find a way - no matter what.
Within hours I was talking to banks, contractors, architects, potential investors, insurance agents - all of it. Somehow, this seemed easy. It was all coming together, and the resistance band that I had previously been pulling against was gone. This was where I was supposed to be.
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So, what’s the moral of the story here?
Detaching from the outcome doesn’t mean you give up on your goals, it means to take a step back, ask for guidance, and surrender to whatever it is that is supposed to happen.
If that banker wouldn’t have called me and told me to “rethink” what I was doing, I very well might still be pushing resistance and trying to climb through a brick wall. The days that followed that phone call may not have been my brightest of days, but they allowed me time to let go, to step back, and to allow the story to unfold as it was meant to.
Because I was able to detach from the outcome and to let go of my own ego - I am now in the process of taking a big leap of faith that gives me more joy and energy than I could have ever imagined.
I always tell people that when you write down your goals, you should be able to look at them and feel the energy that they give you. When you read what you wrote, does it light you up? Because it should. If it doesn’t, or if you feel like you’re pushing resistance, or setting goals based on someone else’s expectations for you - I urge you to “rethink” what you are doing.
Live the life you desire - because it you don’t you’re doing everyone around you a disservice.
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The name Plant not only comes from the idea of eating plant-based foods, but it comes from the idea that we exist to plant seeds of inspiration into our daily lives.
I can’t wait to share what’s in store with you!
Photo by Dwelling Table
xo,
Emma