Restart #3 and No Faking

Okay, I have a confession to make. I’ve spent that last year contemplating how I wanted this docublog to go. How I wanted to present myself. That has resulted in two blog posts that read like that’s the case. It’s ridiculous because the entire premise of Growing Upstream is to share the authentic process of my growth, and what I believe is also the process of everyone else’s growth. Yet, here I’ve been for the past year and a half “trying to find my voice” and trying to conform to blog post format and avoid this turning into my personal online journal—of which no one would care to read.

This morning, literally two minutes ago, it hit me. There isn’t a perfect voice, a perfect format, or a way to guarantee that anyone will read this docublog. And I have to be okay with that because after all, the entire concept of growing upstream was born out of me wanted to document the real process of personal and professional growth in a way that would help me overcome my fears of being my true and whole self to live out my passion and purpose. There’s no marketing strategy for that and no seven-step process.

So I’ve decided that I’m just going to document my process like I originally intended—before I started reading and learning about how to grow your audience, how to monetize your blog, and how to write the perfect blog post.

The other thing that occurred to me this morning was that the process of growth does not happen in a linear or predictable way. I know that first hand. So why was I trying to figure out how to make it look that way? I don’t know. Maybe because I lost my focus listening to others. Or maybe because when it was time to be vulnerable, I found a convenient way to hide yet again. Well, that’s done. I’m going to just document the randomness, ebbs and flows, and the twists and turns that come with personal and professional growth, despite all my wonderful planning. How I articulate and share that will probably sound a lot like this post. And that makes me excited. Don’t get me wrong though; I have my plans all laid out, and it’s going to be my pleasure to show you all the many ways life will burn them to the ground to offer a more organic and revelatory path that serves me, and hopefully you too.

Let’s g(r)o(w)!!