Hero's Journey - Align With Your Journey While Erasing Stress, Overwhelm, and Self Critical Thoughts

Most people spend their entire life stressed without ever giving a single thought as to what it is they really want or what's important to them. See, I'm here to cut through all that noise, connecting you to yourself and the life that you were meant to live. I used to slave away at a corporate job that I hated, but I broke through the social norms and pursued my passion. As a result, I own my own coffee company. I'm Espresso Sommelier and I get to travel the world. You too can live a life that you love, but it starts with getting clear about what you want. It starts with a new decision. I'm your host, Donnie Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life. What's going on everybody? So I am here today because I wanted to talk about the hero's journey. Are you feeling stressed? Are you feeling overwhelmed? Are you feeling self critical? If you answered yes to any of these, chances are there's a very, very good chance that you are fighting your reality. Said differently, is that you have a vision that you're going for. And because it is not coming fast enough, you're fighting, thinking that something is wrong or that something may be wrong with you or that it's just not meant to be. I want to tell you that this is the furthest thing from the truth. What you are being confronted with is the reality of the situation. What you're being confronted with is that mirror image, the expectation of what you think the journey is supposed to be like. By the end of this episode here, I will equate, I will bring you into your journey and realize that you're actually being guided every single step of the way. What the path you are on now is the exact path that you were meant to take and that you are being guided. Let me tell you about my story and how this episode inspired me in When I was in Miami, Florida this past winter, I was. It was kind of a turbulent time. I came there, I went down to Miami because I wanted to complete my one Life blueprint and online Life Vision course that I created. And while I was there, I attended a seminar. And in the seminar I was given a bunch of questions to reflect on about life and the path and the journey that I was on. One of those journeys was my espresso, the cold Roman espresso. And I had been doing this espresso for over a decade, almost 15 years now. And in that process I was very hard on myself saying, well, you know, why isn't it happening, like as fast as it's supposed to Be like, why am I still where I am right now? I was being extremely critical of myself. It was stressing me the hell out because I had this expectation that it was supposed to be easy, but there was a point where I had to let go. Like, inside I was stressed. I was comparing myself. I didn't feel like I was worthy enough, that I was good enough, that maybe there was something wrong with me, that I wasn't. Like, I wasn't meant to be in business. And then when I looked at the external things that were in the world, I thought about the risks associated with being in the beverage industry altogether. The time commitment it would take meaning. Like, I would lose my freedom. Also that the fact that, like, 90% of the beverage industry is one of the riskiest industries to be in. I mean, the restaurants, like, 90% fail. It's even greater for beverage industries than all the other consumer packaged goods because it's so competitive. So then there was that layer of doubt there. And then also, like, what if it doesn't work? Like, what if I do all these things? I invest in equipment, I do invest all the time, and it doesn't work? These are some of the things that were going on in my head. And as a result of that, I felt like I was dragging this boulder uphill. I was just carrying it with me everywhere I went. And I would get these brief, you know, these brief releases when I would go travel, where I was able to just kind of free my mind and forget about it. But then the moment I came back, it was back there. It was like, again right on my shoulders, and I was carrying that weight again. I had a coaching call. Oh, actually, before I even go there. So during this time, I released, I said, you know what? I was like, I prayed. I was like, God, please just give me some kind of guidance. Let me know that I am on the way. Whenever you ask for guidance, whenever you ask for help, it is always given to you, but not always in the way that you think it's going to show up. Sometimes it is. It comes as a whisper, something you just have to notice. Other times, it comes an opportunity. In this instance here, it came from a text from a friend who told me that I needed to contact this food lab as well. As I was skateboarding on the. I went skateboarding after this. I went skateboarding down the boardwalk. And all of a sudden this idea hit and I was like, I need to call this man, this ingredient manufacturer, someone I had contacted over a decade ago, and I need to get samples again because Things had changed. The entire process, in terms of my understanding had changed. So, all right, so that happened and now I'm back into again, feeling all stressed out, like, why isn't this happening so fast? Why isn't happening in the timeframe that I want it to happen? I was on call with my coach and we were talking about Cold Roman. I was sharing my takeaways from this event. And in sharing those takeaways, I told her how there was still this fight within. Like, I feel like I'm taking one step forward, two steps back, that I wasn't moving anywhere. I looked at the cost of going to a co packer, like, well, what would that cost? Right? There is 30. You have to get like 30,000 units or something like that. So the upfront financial cost is extremely high. And then to top it all off, any knowledge, any proprietary knowledge I bring now becomes the knowledge of that co packer. And so while you may sign NDA agreements, once something's been seen, it can't be unseen. If someone has a problem now, all of a sudden your solution becomes part of that because part of their problem, right? And they use your proprietary methodology. So there is that fear as well. Talking to my coach, I said, well, we were talking about production cycles and I was saying, well, I could self produce or I can go to a co packer. In this conversation with her, I realized that all along, one of the reasons I wasn't taking action forward was because all along, and I say all along, I mean, literally from the moment of inception, since I created the beverage, I knew that it was meant to be produced by me, that I wasn't meant to hand it off to a co packer because in my mind that seemed like the easiest path. But once I acknowledged the truth that was here, like, that was in my heart, what my heart was telling me, all of a sudden it was like, holy shit. Of course I was fighting it all this time because that wasn't the path I was meant to take. I was meant to do it the way my heart was telling me to produce it myself. It was like going, you know, trekking up a mountain and complaining the entire time like, what the frig? Where are we? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? And then getting to the top and realizing like, the view and you're like, holy shit. Yeah, of course it was gonna, you know, all this, this buildup was worth seeing this. And that's how I felt when I acknowledged the truth that was within me, acknowledging that this was the path I was supposed to take, but it's not over yet. Fast forward. I'm back here in Stanford, Connecticut, and it just feels like I'm dredging again, right? Like, feels like I'm putting my foot. Feet in the. In stepping step after step and that, like, my feet are getting stuck in the mud. It's almost like being, like, I feel like I'm being pulled down and I'm saying, why? Why, why? Why is this taking it so long? Why is it so hard Again, going back to that old mindset. And then I thought about this in my journal. I looked at where, you know, what was really the mindset I was in is not a reflection of reality. It's a friction of what's going on inside of myself. Right? Whatever you are experiencing is not what's going on externally. It's what's going on internally. It's what's going on in your mind. When you realize this, you realize that you have complete control over how you feel in any given moment. And you guide that feeling by the questions you ask yourself. So waking up and feeling this way, I took it to my journal. When I looked at that, I said, well, if I had to acknowledge this journey, what are the beautiful moments that came from this? All of a sudden, I started to journal down things like, well, you know, I got more better acquainted with espresso because I'm constantly changing my roast. And through all of this, it reminded me to get back to creating that Italian espresso that I had aspired to so many years ago, and I promised I would. And it's also where my passion lies. Like, I love. I love the idea of creating this. This perfect cup of coffee. So once I align with that, I'm like, yeah, of course. Yeah, it aligned me with that. Like, now I'm really excited about it. I thought about my time being home here and how it allowed me to be around my family and how my family now, like, where. If you were to look at my one life blueprint and where I score my categories, the category of my family, I would say, while I have a great family, I probably ranked it about a five. And it wasn't because so much of what was going on externally, it was what was going on in my head. But as a result of changing the way I was thinking about it, as a result of showing up and giving more love and affection to those people around me, all of a sudden I felt better about it. So now my relationship with my family is like a nine. I feel so, so much better. And that Came as a result of being here. And then, you know, I was putting off looking at the business because the business that didn't feel comfortable, right? Because I'm like, I don't see the growth. I wasn't looking for the growth. When I stopped to look at the business and say, what is the beauty that I'm not seeing here? If I had to notice, what would I look at? What would I note? And I realized that the journey that I'm on is the exact journey that I need to be on. It's actually preparing me all the problems, all the, what I call, bullshit that I had to deal with, the problems, the issues going back and for, you know, conflicts in information I would get from different labs. It was just all preparing me my knowledge and what I know now about the entire process. There's no way, if you were to throw me into that production where I had the capacity to produce a million bottles, just throwing it out there, I would not know half of it. I would be going into it blind. But now I have such a deep understanding, and it's constantly growing. But the point I'm trying to make here is by aligning with that and realizing that this is just part of the journey, not resisting it, realizing that is like traveling. If you've ever been to, you know, let's pretend you're in romantically, right? And you just happen to book a hotel on top of the Spanish Steps. But the problem is you have five things of luggage, and you're like, shit, how am I supposed to get up? Look at all those steps. Like, how am I supposed to get up there? You put them on your back. You're carrying two in each hand, and you're dredging up those steps, dredging down. You make it to the first platform, you're like, oh, my God, it feels like it's never ending. And you get to the next platform, and then you're almost near the top. You get to the top, and there is that moment of release because you get to put the baggage down. That is what it feels like. So I want you to look at your journey. Look at all the things that you'd been stressing out, right? First of all, let's make sure. Are you going in a direction that you want to go, right? Is all the effort you're putting in, is it even aligned with you? Like, look at where it is you want to go, right? Say you want to. You want to start your own business, right? And you're. You're really having this tug of war with all the step you have to go through first, let's just acknowledge and make sure that we are aiming towards the right target. Because if you're not hitting the. If you're not looking at the right target, then this. This is never going to work, right? And then next, look at all those steps and ask yourself a series of questions. I wrote them down here so this way I could share them with you. What do you need? If you had to remember what the journey was going to be like, what is it that you need to remember in order to reach that goal? And these could be steps like that. This is all part of the process. And what I want you to do here is write down the beautiful moments. Like, if you had to find the beautiful moments in the struggle that you were going through, what would they be? And what these beautiful moments are doing are just giving you the appreciation to look at the journey and realize that really life is just unfolding for you, right? All the thinking that it's not working out, it's just in your head, it is working out for you. Problems are the way the problems give you the education, give you the mental clarity to know what it is you need to do. It's preparing you. So when you encounter a problem, celebrate it. And then lastly, I want to leave you with a little bit of action, some homework to take. And I promise this is not going to be difficult. Actually, you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of this once you've done the exercise of just kind of journaling those, even if you do it mentally. And you just ask yourself, okay, if I were to find the beautiful moments in this struggle that I'm feeling, what would those moments be? List five things. Don't start until you do at least five things. And then the last thing, after you've listed out those five things, because I know once you actually listen out, you'll realize that life really is happening for you. The last thing, the homework I want you to do is to do something today. Do something by the end of the day to celebrate your journey. Maybe that looks like going to your favorite restaurant. Maybe that looks like a cup of coffee outside, watching the sunset, or if it's morning, watching the sun rise, do something for you just to celebrate, to remind yourself that you're doing a great job, that this is the journey you chose and why you're doing it, but also to just enjoy the process all along the way. Because the last thing you want to do is to get there and realize that you had sacrificed everything else in order to get there. Enjoy it along the way. I promise. That is how I like to do it, how I encourage you. So this way nothing in life gets left out. That is it for this episode. I hope it inspired you to just look at the beautiful moments, look at the journey you have and just to like let go of the stress, let go of the overwhelm, let go of the self critical thoughts and just appreciate the journey you're on. Appreciate how far that you have come because you have come a far away. The fact that you're here now, listening and you're still on the journey means that you've made massive progress. So I applaud you for that. And I want to say congratulations for being here because so many people would give anything to be in your shoes. So if you enjoyed this podcast, please share this with five people. Hit that subscribe button. Again, thank you so so much for just for being here and listening to these words. I hope they enrich your life in some way and if you have any questions or comments you can send them to me via my website@www.donnyrouse.com. that is D O N N Y R A U S.com thank you so much. Again. Remember, you only get one life. Live fully, live passionately and most of all, live now. God bless you guys and I will see you again soon.