I've been reflecting a good deal the past day and a half, being cliche and counting my blessings (not literally – that would involve math, and it was a day of rest).
I am where I want to be, but not at all where I want to be. Big picture = yes, Details = not yet.
I am based and living in paradise. Check. (Despite the blatant insinuation from a real estate agent today that I'm a lesser citizen because I am renting – as opposed to buying his hyper-inflated properties, I suppose – I am glad to live the way I do. Until I'm a multimillionaire, I'll keep living this way – heck, author Timothy Ferris wrote a bestselling book about it and coined the phrase "the New Rich".)
I am free to spend my time in productive work on things I love. Check.
I have an amazing circle of individuals in my life that I love and cherish. Check.
I am healthy, in mind body and soul. Check.
So the big picture data, that's all in line with the goals that I have set in the past and continue to have – to have my health, my freedom, an inspiring place to live and work and create, and to have worthwhile relationships.
I have been feeling very, very blessed lately. It's ironic, because it's not like life is without struggle – I think every entrepreneur understands, on some level, that until you reach Richard Branson of 2009 level (and maybe even still, or more but in different ways), the struggles are enough to threaten to sink the ship, day in and day out…like Richard Branson of the early days (his book Losing My Virginity is a must read for any entrepreneur).
I'm certainly not immune to those daily challenges. I've poured the bulk of my life the past few years, in its entirety, into building Face Level Industries into the company it is today. Wait, it's still a fledgling start-up, struggling to breathe and coping with daily challenges? You mean it's affected by this economy too? You mean just because I live where it's always sunny and warm doesn't mean I'm set for life like Paris Hilton?
Haha please! If you think that about me, you are very naive.
Trust me, there are many days when I wonder if it's worth it. But then I think about the alternatives, and yes, it's worth it. I have a love hate relationship with it sometimes, and I'm thankful that the CORE people of Team FLI are patient and loyal and possibly as determined as me to see it get where it can potentially be.
Because it's not always easy being the leader when sometimes I just want to say forget it. I've put what I believe to be the "right people on the bus" though (Good To Great), and those times when I want to drive the bus off a cliff, they remind me of the course we've set out on. Thank God for each and every one of you.
I am thankful though because despite the daily challenges, the many frustrations, the constant uphill grind that accompanies an entity like Face Level in these young growing stages – despite all that, it's still alive. And I still get to look to the future and see what that future can be like, and determine how to get it there. That's incredibly fun (and rewarding).
I'm also thankful because, from the artistic side of things, every moment of every day is full of inspiration. All I have to do is look outside.
I am seeing, hearing, and experiencing new things every day. Mangoes fall from the trees outside, like manna from heaven. When I hear them, I walk out and pick them up. It's a quaint reminder that yes, paradise in some form does exist on earth.
Last night I watched the sky, brilliant shades of blue and lit up by the full moon. Some 50km out over the ocean thunderheads slowly climbed heavenward, a slow, consistent blur of changing forms and shapes. Suddenly, like a child with a flashlight in his mouth, the thunderheads began to flicker, and glow.
I have never in my life seen that before. It was amazing. To see a thundercloud miles high glowing from the inside, a giant cotton light bulb in the middle of a peaceful sea…remarkable. Probably one of the coolest natural wonders I have ever witnessed firsthand. They popped and glowed for probably 30 minutes, on and off…
Combined with the setting, I was at once flooded with gratitude and pride. Thankful that I have been allowed the privilege of life as I have known it – struggles and all – and proud of the determination in the face of all obstacles that has kept me going towards these goals.
To sit in the jungle above the ocean and watch the wonders of creation is not an end in itself. The goal for me has never been to "make it" and rest on my laurels, and getting to experience these things now is in absolutely no way indicative of where I'm at on that journey anyway (it's for me to know).
This setting was a goal though – to provide the foundation for a font of inspiration, to create better art, to train harder and smarter, to build better businesses.
I am thankful for the beginning of a new chapter, a new location, and new motivation. In a way, starting afresh.
The evolution speeds up exponentially from here!