The experience I gained from social media helped open my mind to leverage social media could create. Despite the positive experiences, I couldn’t help but return to the fact that users don’t own social media platforms. I started to imagine what I could have created if I had the same love and attention and put all that time and energy into making the digital infrastructure for a website I owned and had the potential to help others.
I didn’t know where to start, how much it would cost, or what the site would be about, but I didn’t care about the details; I just felt compelled to move. I learned that movement brings answers.
I followed the compulsion and decided to slow down. I started another therapy company called Untethered Therapy, intending to create a digital platform for functional movement and therapy-related content with an emphasis on rehabilitating orthopedic and neuromuscular conditions. This time I wanted to create original content, provide a monthly subscription service, and keep only a tiny handful of private clients. When I would go over the amount of work this would take for me to complete, my gut told me not to pursue it.
So, I was in a similar situation, renting my time out to private clients and doing higher-paying contract work, but this time I made sure to work less and say no to new therapy and social media-related opportunities to create space for something new.
I was tired. Despite loving what I did for a living, I thought about the hundreds of thousands of miles I drove to different places for work, time spent in the car and hotels, missing quality time with friends and loved ones, and losing contact with people I genuinely cared for along the way. There were costs associated with pursuing the path much more significant than money. Still, despite them, I was grateful for my experiences and the insights they afforded me concerning personal evolution.
For years I gave time and energy to others personally and professionally but rarely carved out enough time for myself. I wanted to work less, read more, have more time to enjoy long morning walks, and be more present, and I needed to hold space for myself. So, I decided to start my work days at 11:30 am every weekday except Friday to go for an hour walk, sauna, and read books. I also wanted to learn how to relax genuinely.
I don’t remember precisely when I decided to do this, but it was a bit before the pandemic shutdown in Houston, Texas, in 2020. had been walking almost daily for several months and allowing myself to be present while listening to books about mindset, finance, and intentional living. I would take mental notes and allow myself to feel any emotion that came to me without trying to judge or examine it. After my walk, I’d write down ideas and concepts that touched me deeply. I quickly read/listened to over fifty books and had countless pages filled on legal pads. Those pages made their way to a glass blackboard I had in my home office, and I started to compare and contrast the ideas I got from each book and examined how I could apply them in a way that made sense to me on a visceral level.
Despite the many titles I consumed, I kept coming back to two of them. One was Tao Te Ching (The Stephen Mitchell translation), and the other was Infinite Self 33 Steps to Reclaiming Your Inner Power, written and read by Stuart Wilde. I can’t tell you how many times I listened to Tao Te Ching in 2-3 years and often moved to tears while walking in the morning. And it still moves me deeply, no matter how many times I read it.
I’m naturally a very calm and quiet guy, but the more I walked and read, the more space I held for myself, the calmer I felt. It was interesting to observe. I started journaling again, and my daily mantra for nearly an entire year was “I flow, I do not force.” This sentiment was in my heart, and I wanted to embed it into my subconscious mind by writing it down and reading it aloud daily. My mornings were becoming sacred, and I was relearning to start my day rooted in gratitude. It felt good.
During this time, I made time to mentor a couple of allied health professional students I met on Instagram who was studying to become occupational therapists. We’d message each other and arrange a time to FaceTime so they could ask me anything they wanted about the many mistakes I made in my entrepreneurial journey, but more importantly, discuss their plans and dreams. A few became recurring and transitioned to doing Instagram Lives so other people would tune in if they wanted. We would speak candidly and sketch out ideas. It was so fun and rewarding, and I wanted to do more of this work (I didn’t charge for these talks), but I also started to feel in my gut that I also wanted to move away from practicing therapy. I had been doing so for about thirteen years, worked in about 100 places, pursued many of my professional interests, and dabbled in private practice.
What else was there to do? Build a large training facility? Nope. Create a digital platform to mentor others. Nope. Create content and sell monthly subscriptions? Nope. Complete the rest of my doctorate program? Continue to trade my time for more money per hour? Continue to spend valuable time away from loved ones? No, no, and no.
I had had enough of the rat race.
But if I escaped it, I would have to learn how to.
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