Starting Over At 31

We are all chasing the same thing…

Freedom.

But on whose terms?

I spent years climbing a mountain only to realize I didn’t enjoy the view, and to be honest I didn’t enjoy the journey either.

What are three motorcycles in the garage worth when you don’t have time to ride them? Time away from friends and family is time you’ll never get back. If you don’t have your health you have nothing.

I don’t know what I was chasing, validation maybe, or a feeling of finally being enough.

When I stopped and asked myself where I will end up if I keep going in this direction, I didn't like the answer…

But what choice do we have?

We are stuck in a cycle: trading time for money in hopes that money will buy us freedom but we give up our freedom to get money. And we loose ourselves in the processes. A vicious cycle.

There most be another way...

 

It Is Never Too Late To Go After What You Want

Sharing your passion and art online, growing a network of likeminded people, work with cool brands and cool people. Being paid for the value you provide instead of trading time for money, work from anywhere you want, whenever you want. That sounds a lot more like freedom to me.

Don’t underestimate the harm you are causing yourself by living out of alignment. A great way to make sure you are on the right path is to ask yourself: What would I spend my time doing if money didn’t matter. Start doing more of that, even if it’s just for an hour a day.

 

Lost

14 Months into creative entrepreneurship.

“Of course everything is falling apart, your new life will cost you your old one. I thought I was ready, and I guess I was, but I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it would be to leave everything behind that felt familiar.

Entrepreneurship might be one of those things where you feel ready, but you never know what to expect, you just have to jump in, learn to swim, and trust yourself that you won’t drown. I tried so hard to hold onto my old life while trying to build my new one that my old life eventually fell apart completely, almost like the universe was pushing me forward. Forcing me to evolve. There is no turning back now. As scary as that feels, it was also freeing. It’s up to me now.

The only problem… For the longest time my goal was to become a full-time creator. When I finally achieved it I felt lost. Like I completely ran out of fuel. Not knowing what to do next, second guessing every decision, even questioning the path entirely. Here I am trying to inspire people to carve their own path and I’m not even sure where I’m going anymore - that made me feel a lot of guilt.

That's the thing with entrepreneurship, there is no ceiling on how far you can take it. There’s also nothing there to catch you if you fall. That amount of responsibility and pressure is huge. And came with a wave of self-doubt, unceratinty and I think - lonliness. Like I was a ship in the middle of the ocean, drifting with no land in sight.

 

Advice For The Lost 

A while ago from a recent collaboration I came In contact with Mateusz, founder of Oakywood. From a small workshop in Poland, he turned his passion for woodworking into a global brand, creating handcrafted goods loved by customers all over the world and career-opportunities for like‑minded people. Goals. I took the opportunity to ask him two very important questions.

First one being: What advice would you give to someone who is looking to turn their passion into a career? To which he said:

Many people hesitate because they overthink it - my take is simple: don’t wait for everything to be perfect before you start. You’ll never feel fully ready anyway. Just do it, learn as you go, and let your passion pull you forward. Progress always beats perfection.

Lets sit with that.

"You’ll never feel fully ready, Just do it, learn as you go and let your passion pull you forward. This confirms my feeling of not knowing what to expect, jumping in and trusting myself that I wont drown."

But what do you do when you feel like you are drowning?

For the second question I asked Mateusz: Was there ever a point where you almost gave up or questioned your path, what kept you going? To which he said:

"Yes, many times. Especially when things felt overwhelming or growth hit a wall. What kept me going was reminding myself we’re building something meaningful - something that will last. I keep telling myself: this is a marathon, not a sprint. Also, having people who believe in what we’re doing makes all the difference. Motivation comes and goes, but commitment keeps you moving anyway."

This made me feel less lonely. “build something meaningful”, “have people that believe in you”.

I realized that things like community, routine, meaning and direction, things that are essential for us human beings to function - often comes built-in with a regular 9–5. But when you’re carving your own path, those things don’t come automatically. It was up to me to create it.

 

Discover Purpose

The line from Mateusz that keeps echoing in my mind: “Let your passion pull you forward.”

I realized I had lost track of the thing that WAS pulling me forward. Passion. It was never about becoming, It was about doing.

This whole media thing didn’t start with me wanting to carve out an alternative career path. It started with the feeling I got when I was out on two wheels, carving up the roads — and a strong intuition to share that feeling.”

Guess I lost track of that, when I was fighting to survive.

Goals are great but be careful relying on them. If you feel lost or start to question yourself you might just need to define your purpose and remind yourself of - why you are doing it.

 

How To Find Your Purpose

“You get burned, then you light the way” Fireplace.

I believe purpose is what comes out on the the others side of struggle, experience, and service.

Struggle, tests and grows us. Reflection turns struggle into experience. Service turns experince into lessons.

I have experienced the consequences of living out of alignment. I feel a responsibility now, to bring attention to that and shine a light on the alternative.

Snap out of autopilot. Realign. Escape the grind.

And I’m making that my full-time job.

Like Mateusz said: “What kept me going was reminding myself we’re building something meaningful”

Time to build something meaningful.

 

Freedom From Alignment

I used to chase success, validation, and other peoples definitions of a life well-lived. But freedom comes from alignment, living with intention. Carving your own path.

We all want freedom, but it’s up to you to decide what that means.

If you have been feeling a bit lost lately I would suggest that you download the Realignment Sheet. It includes some very important questions that I think everyone should ask themselves at least once in their life.

Realignment Sheet: cyop.co

kind regards, 
Johan