When my girl Dana Gatziolis asked me to participate in her GLOW School Blog Tour I was deeply honored and excited. (PS –  If you don’t know Dana, you should hop on over to her website and get acquainted. She absolutely RADIATES light and is such an incredible inspiration. I know you’ll love her as much as I do!)

This blog tour showcases women who GLOW, or to use Dana’s words, women who “are beaming with love, brimming with joy and unabashedly alive.” (Can you see why I was excited to join?!) You can check out all of the other amazing women from the tour here.

The writing prompt for this blog tour was ‘How I Got My Glow.’

Ahhhhh I love this topic so much! Honestly, I could write a book on this (and probably will someday 🙂 ), but here is the abridged version.

My process of finding my glow began when I started seeing a therapist in the fall of 2010. I had hit rock bottom after a really difficult breakup. I was feeling depressed and alone and pretty hopeless, to be honest. I was also working full-time as a veterinarian and feeling kind of dissatisfied with my career at the time, which was really scary and confusing after having just spent 8 years (and hundreds of thousands of dollars —- yep) earning a veterinary degree.

Nothing in my life seemed to make any sense. Everything felt completely dull and meaningless. Still, I had a deep inner voice telling me that there was more to life, that there had to be a better way. And, luckily, I listened to that voice. On a whim, I reached out to a therapist and made what would become one of the best and most pivotal decisions of my life. Therapy allowed me to start stripping away all of the layers of who I thought I was (but really wasn’t at all) and get in touch with my true inner self. Slowly but surely, I began to find my voice, my truth. The process of therapy helped me to really get to know myself, get in touch with my feelings (maybe for the first time ever in my life) and find the confidence to start moving toward the life of my dreams.

The next couple years were huge for me in terms of learning how to tune into my inner voice and follow my heart. I had to step through a lot of fear and become willing to take chances on myself —- chances like quitting my job to pursue a career in freelance writing when I really didn’t know what the hell I was doing at the time, or starting a coaching business (with no prior business experience whatsoever) — all at the risk of failing miserably. During that time I had a lot of support, but I also had to shut out the opinions of the outside world and really learn to trust, first and foremost, in myself. Each step I took leading with my heart brought me closer and closer to living a life in alignment with who I truly am.

2013, for me was a year of cultivating self love and radical self acceptance. It was the year I ended a relationship with my soul mate (I believe we have more than one) because I knew I was losing sight of myself. It was a year my heart broke, then broke open, and then broke again. It was also the year I discovered my spiritual practice, and realized that life had so much more beauty and magic than I ever realized.

The next two years were all about digging even deeper, clearing space and feeling emotions. Lots of emotions. I read A Course in Miracles, I cleansed my chakras (highly recommended) and spent a great deal of time in quiet reflection. I soared high. I fell down. I regained my footing. Through it all, I deepened my faith and and my confidence and continued to step out again and again, each time stronger than I was before.

Finding my glow has been a process of getting to know myself — of dwelling in my own presence, beneath all the stories, without judgement  — and loving that person, so fiercely, and with so much compassion. So many of us have a deep fear of really getting to know ourselves. What if that thing so-and-so said about me or the belief I have about myself is actually true? It’s scary, I get it. But here’s the thing, that person underneath all of the layers is the real you, and she is amazing and beautiful and brilliant and capable of so much more than you realize.

Until we become willing to love and accept ourselves fully, no job or relationship or external circumstance is ever going to make us feel truly alive. That glow can only come from within. Once you become willing to sit with yourself, the totality of yourself, that’s where you’ll find your true inner peace, your glow.

xoxo

Kristi

If you loved this please be sure to check out the other ladies on the tour! Yesterday, Monica Woodhams wrote an awesome post about how she used forgiveness, gratitude and action to step into her glow. Tomorrow, the tour stops with the lovely Kayla Dyer who is sure to have some inspiring words to share.

If you loved this and want more tips on how to tune into yourself and find your joy, I invite you to join Dana’s Get Glowing Adventure starting Feb 1st (See details below — I’ll be signing up!) You can sign up here.