There is a very real mental detoxification that has to occur when we step outside the bounds of what our programming tells us is the “right” way to live.
My husband and I quit our jobs three weeks ago, moved into an RV, and are getting ready to hit the road. We are more than ready to leave L.A. in our rearview.
We’re ready to put our efforts and energy into building our own brand in order to create enough income and be our own bosses. We’ve both spent the majority of our lives working for other people’s dreams and following the programmed path to success that is so well trodden in the Western world.
But is it really the path to success?
I’ve come to believe that it is not. I’ve come to see that they want us to believe that it’s the path to success—get good grades, graduate, find a job in your chosen field, start a family, settle down, and the rest is happily ever after, right?
Wrong! Who do you actually know that followed this path and is truly happy on a deep, core level? I mean really happy, as in wouldn’t trade their life for anything kind of happy. I clearly don’t know too many people, since even those I know who have seemingly “successful” lives have told me, “I wish I could do what you’re doing!”
This points to a very real possibility that says perhaps the socially defined path to success isn’t so successful. It tells me that maybe we are being programmed with an idea and being sold on a dream that isn’t really attainable until we step outside the box. This became quite obvious to us earlier this year as we sat pondering how we were ever going to bring our vision to the world—a vision that didn’t include being someone’s employee forever.
We came to the conclusion that we had to break free—and we did. Everything aligned, and we stepped off into the unknown. Just to be clear, we don’t have trust funds or much in the way of savings. We’ve spent most of our cash on the RV and the repairs it needed. What we do have is our vision and the skills we need to generate income from the road…legally.
Our first week outside the institutionalized programming of society proved to be exhilarating, scary, challenging, troubling, successful, and fun. We found that we had to go through a detox of the beliefs we had been programmed with throughout our lives.
Here are the five major beliefs I found I had to work through and release:
>> That I can’t make a living if I’m not reporting to a “job” where someone else is holding the power over my income. This one was interesting, because the reality of it is that while yes, I have to actively seek out streams of income now, they do come, and they are much more fulfilling then someone handing me a check each week for a job I was only mildly fulfilled by.
>> That people who live “outside the system” are strange, and I now have to make peace with being one of “those people.” We came to this realization as we were making jewelry to sell, and as we were sitting there, I looked at my husband and said, “Wow boo, we’re officially ‘those people’ that our parents warned us not to be like because they were somehow viewed as failures or losers by society’s standards.” At that point, we laughed—and we’re totally at peace with breaking the mold.
>> That I’m somehow less safe and secure than I was when we were living in our sh*tty, little, crumbling apartment in Long Beach and reporting to a Monday through Friday career job. While my mind would do a wonderful job trying to convince me of this fact, when I look at the actual evidence, I see that it’s just an illusion created to keep my in the systematic and institutionalized programming that they drill into us from a very young age.
>> That it matters what people think. I came to see this as we were stopped in a parking lot of a grocery store (Wal-Mart no less, but hey, our options in that town were severely limited), and I got out to throw away some trash. Some people were walking toward me, and I caught myself thinking, “Oh my God, they’re going to think we live in our RV in this Wal-Mart parking lot.” My very next thought was, “Do you really care? You’re in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Yucca Valley…who gives a sh*t what they think?”—which I know sounds judgmental, but the reality I came to see is that it doesn’t matter where I am. I still don’t consciously care what people think. However, there is a very programmed part of my mind that would still try to tell me it matters. I’m working through that.
>> That we made a big mistake. This is exactly what I think keeps so many of us trapped in the endless loop of dissatisfaction where we try to mold our lives to the standards of others. When we do make a move to break free, our mind will quickly pipe up with the fear mantra to talk us back into the perceived security of the system. I can tell you that at three weeks in, this was definitely no mistake. All is aligning as it should, and we’ve never been happier.
I share my experience to inspire you, dear reader, to look within yourself so that you may see where someone else’s idea of success has been programmed into you.
It’s time to live your life.
~
Author: Lindsay Carricarte
Image: Instagram @ hug.your.chaos
Editor: Yoli Ramazzina
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