Follow Me to the Unexpected

In life, we are told to always expect the unexpected. Usually, this is a bad thing.. it means something could inevitably go wrong. What if we changed the narrative? What if we started looking for the unexpected?

Maybe, we could all find a life that we will love beyond anything we have ever imagined.

My Beginning

Ever since I was a little girl, I was pretty stubborn and wanted to make my own choices. If my father told me to wear the black dress, I wore the white. If he told me to have an apple for breakfast, then I grabbed the banana instead. Yet, when it came down to big major decisions, I followed his advice and it always seemed like the right thing to do. He said I should go to college and that I would make a good teacher. So, that's exactly what I did.

I was officially in "the bubble": the small-predetermined path meant for the sheep to follow what the previous generations had laid out as the 'right thing to do.'

Getting Out of "The Bubble"

Four years later, college degree acquired, I started teaching.

It didn't take long in the teaching world for me to realize that there had to be more to life than what I saw around me. Maybe you have felt this way before?

Maybe you have looked around the room and you noticed that there was no one in the room with a life that you wanted.

As a teacher, my view of professionals and superiors was pretty restricted.

My coworkers came in day after day, teaching the same curriculum and complaining about the same things. "We aren't compensated enough; there isn't enough time in the day; we are under-appreciated; there is no way that we can get all of this done," etc. The first few months, I had fallen into the same patterns and started blaming the outside world for all the things wrong with my life.

There was a day when I woke up, looked in the mirror.. and I just didn't recognize the person looking back at me anymore. I had gone from always dressing my best to throwing my hair in a ponytail and rushing out the door.

I had gone from seeing a world of opportunity to seeing my entire future laid out for me.

I could have stuck with the same pattern and blamed the outside world for everything in my life. Many people would say it's even easier to just continue on the same path that you're currently on. Yet, I think it's even harder to see your entire future and not like what you see, especially when you know it's in your power to change it.

I had wrestled with the fact that I chose to go to college, earn a degree on learning how to do a specific skill.. maybe this is what I am meant to do. This is what I chose, right?

Should I accept being told that I wasn't going to be able to make any decisions in my classroom. "Here's a script - read it," they said. Should I accept that I was going to only make enough money to get by? Should I accept that I will be told during what hours I get to use the restroom five days a week?

I asked myself these questions every day for months. I feared that if I gave up on teaching that I had failed. I also feared that I didn't have any other skills.

Yet, I knew I was an incredible teacher. I outperformed many of the tenured teachers on my overall and student growth scores. I knew that I was phenomenal. Yet, I also knew it wasn't truly making me happy.

I also knew that I wasn't born a good teacher. I worked to learn and get better at it every day for 6 years.

I had to understand that it isn't failing to try something new. It isn't failing to let go of a life that makes you unhappy in search of something more.

Once I understood that I wasn't failing myself, or even my father, I began the search for what would make me happy.

Many of us don't have the means to just give up on our current career. I was definitely in that boat. However, we do have the means to find a better position. We also have the means to try learning new skills online as well as read about entrepreneurs and how they achieved what seemed to be impossible. I also had the means to save up money to start a new adventure.

So, I got hired at a new school where I got to make my own decisions for my classroom and finally plan according to what my students truly needed. I was already happier.

I did all of this while still searching for something beyond teaching.

The two things that kept me sane during this search were trying new skills at home and the "aha moments" in the classroom. I knew that I was the cause of them both. I had made that change in a student. I had made that lightbulb above a student's head go on. I had created that moment they understood something that I was trying to teach them. I also created new opportunities for my future self every day.

It was my turn for a light bulb moment. A lightbulb moment that would change my life.

My "Aha Moment"

I ended up finding a new skill. This new skill allowed me to make money without an overhead, without a boss, without someone else dictating how my life will go - I found day trading which led me to trading NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens aka cute pictures on the internet worth a lot of money). In the time that I have started making money on my own, I have gained new perspectives.

I have gained new friendships with similar people that have found entrepreneur paths. Some of them do forex trading, some launched their own business while some do something completely different like renting out real estate or ATM machines.

Leaving 'the bubble' expanded my social circle by helping me relate to more driven and successful people. It has truly changed my view of the entire world. I finally see people around the room that have lives that I would love to live. I finally see myself in the mirror again. I finally see opportunities.

Leaving 'the bubble' can change your view of the world.

Even on this new journey, I don't regret following the path that my father laid out for me. I learned a lot and eventually found something that makes me happy. Yet, I do wish someone had simply explained to me that there was so much more outside of 'the bubble' that I was in.

Even past NFTs, I have 15 new business ideas I am planning to start for passive income. Yes, passive income - meaning once they are up and running, I check a few numbers every now and again and cash a check.

The limits are endless when you decide to start seeking them. The more money you start making, the easier it is to compound into more.

Your Lightbulb Moment

Maybe NFTs is right for you, maybe another business model is right for you, but hopefully you're ready to start searching for what is outside your predetermined 'bubble'.

I hope that I can get that "lightbulb" to go off in at least one your heads. A lightbulb that says I can do it; I can create a life where I am happy and make my own decisions. Hopefully, you are ready to seek a life filled with the unexpected!