Les Instructions

How to live your dream life

Step One: You have to know what you want, defined in terms of the end result.

Step Two: You have to physically and mentally move towards it, without defining the hows. Smallish baby steps work well vs. tackling too large of steps that could leave you feeling overwhelmed and defeated.

Step Three: Believe that it is coming to you.

Step Four: The thing that you want actually starts coming to you, on its own terms, from a direction completely unexpected.

I am currently in Step Three. Where are you?

Marche

Photo by Tommy Ton

Step (Eng.)/Marcher (Fr.) verb: The single complete movement of raising one foot and putting it down in another spot.

I am revisiting a concept that I was turned onto while in Rome a couple of months ago. The concept of "stepping out".

Rome is notorious for its insane driving. My chauffeur  who picked me up from the airport gave me some very useful advice for my stay, "To cross the street, you must step out into the traffic. Otherwise, if you wait for the traffic to stop, you will be waiting for ever. I am not kidding."

I found this advice especially poignant, considering that I knew only one word in Italian-- attraversiamo, which means "to cross".

He was right. Yet stepping out into crazy traffic is easier said than done. I discovered that it was a good idea to draft off of the "stepping out" of the locals. The older Italian woman were usually the best to draft off of, the tourists on the other hand, not so much. This drafting allowed me the opportunity to recognize the best "stepping out" opportunities and to gain the confidence to do it more effortlessly and independently.

I pondered this metaphor for life throughout the duration of my trip. And I continue to revisit this concept during my return in Paris.