We don't get the diamond without the dirt

Growing up, I knew I wanted to play soccer in college. 

I had a Roberto Baggio poster on my bedroom wall and I drew soccer balls with my signature all over my school notebooks, imagining the day I would get to sign my name to my future college team's posters.

I was the girl wearing Umbros and Samba classics every, single day of my 5th grade year.

Being from a town that didn't have a girls' team until I was 13, I played with the boys and was verbally attacked more times than I can tell you about - mostly by the mothers of the precious boys I played against. 

I eventually got there - with the college jersey and the scholarship - and the signature with the #7. 

The in-betweens of the story aren't glamorous, of course, but the art of commitment is the thing that makes us. 

And in today's world, I think about how rare it is to witness someone seeing it all the way through. 

Or how over-simplified the story has become with 5-second reels and goldfish attention spans.

Or how we secretly tell ourselves the lie that $1M revenue years + Best-Seller success should be the way. 

I'm loudly calling BS.  

We don't get the diamond without the dirt.  

There's nothing cute about writing emails bleary-eyed at 5:00 am praying your kid will stay asleep a few minutes more...

Or starting a new month with a new launch plan and the sting of discouragement from the last one that didn't work to fire you up to keep going.

Or making the decision to ask for help when the help you've asked for in the past was a total bust.

I really want to UN-glamorize the dream for you...

And let that gritty, raw, dirt under the fingernails, scribbles on the page I've got nothing to lose vibe BECOME the dream under the dream. 

Because when everything is on the line and you've simultaneously got nothing to lose - you find the most potent power position imaginable. 

It's the place where you take the shot being fully prepared to miss.

It's where the best kind of writing and creating exists. 

Because it's honest. 

And there's nothing hotter than you telling the truth about what you really want and allowing yourself to be so fully swallowed up by it you actually become it. 

I just think about 5th grade Amber with her neon Umbros & signature scribbles. 

Over to you...

I'm certain there's something you want to create, experience, become fully one with that you're holding back on right now.

Maybe you're telling yourself a story that belongs to someone else or waiting for just the right time to roll your sleeves up and do the work.

The challenge is...in that holding back - you're robbing yourself of your reps. 

Your hesitation is keeping you too clean.

So your September call to action is to get in the arena. 

Get dirty.

Let the words have their way with you.

Allow the feeling of hopelessness and fear and everything that comes with it do their thing so you can experience yourself breaking through to the other side. 

It's simple and gorgeous and gruesome and the recipe for a really well-lived life. 

It's September 1.

What are you creating this month?

Rooting for you always...

xo

Amber