Whispers of challenge - a daily reality I’ve been discovering recently.

“So what’s your plan?” they ask.

“What’s next for you?” on repeat, over and over.

From people I see every day, to those I talk to maybe once a year.

These phrases, how repetitive they seep into my conversations.

It’s funny, because I’m almost positive that part of me, my optimism-driven side, is what emerges from my mouth and responds with things like, “Oh, you know… I’m working on social media marketing. My photography is going great! Blogging, oh yeah, it’s really coming along!” Going on and on about all of the seemingly mundane elements of my life, even though the whole time, I know that’s not what the question was.

The question of “What’s on the horizon for you, Lauren?”

“What’s coming of you?”

And I don’t answer, because I don’t know.

And I don’t know, because I often fear that I’m not ready - not ready to have the pressure of becoming the best at one specific field of interest. To even think about the future because the present is pressing enough. To face the undertaking of growth in who I am and what I do.

Improving yourself to become the potential you hold inside of you is not easy.

Most of the time I realize that I’m not ready for that fire.

But it’s coming. And when it’s coming, you can feel that heat.

You can almost taste the embers of the fire as it chases your present self down, the very foundations of who you are. Truth be told, you can’t escape it. It’s almost like an uninvited guest that keeps showing up without turning in any RSVP, let alone showing proof of any invitation. You can be real with yourself though, you don’t invite it because it burns. Boy, does that fire burn.

That fire that insists that whatever your passion, whatever you breathe and sweat and cry and live for, must endure the flames of of refinement. Because in the end, nothing great we ever strive to accomplish is born gold.

Don’t get me wrong, dreams are gold, but they are manifested at first as a fragile stone that must endure the process.

The hard, difficult, stretching process.

And while “comfortable” may feel good for a season, it’s not the lasting beauty we want to see in our lives.

We must, as creatives, as those who seek nothing but to bring beauty to a world that is screaming for its healing, be willing to accept the challenge of removing our comfort of stagnancy to gain confidence and character while learning to endure the wavesand to grow into something more than what we start as.

That’s the truth of the today. We must trust the hours that seem to drag. We must put our heads on our pillows every night, each expecting the coming morning to bring the completeness that comes with each sunrise, knowing confidently that we have become a step closer to being gold.

Because the mundane is not the enemy in this process. The mundane brings to full harvest the endurance to succeed in what our calling is. Participating in our nine-to-fives, whether it’s a place we see our futures held or not, must be embraced as the process to becoming one step closer to where we want to be. By taking it for granted, we miss out on the abundance of growth factors; patience, ability to be persistent, and the ability to succeed in our dreams no matter the obstacle (our day jobs seeming the biggest obstacle, most times).

So let’s stop this nonsense of believing that we are anything less. Let’s stop feeling like we aren’t ready for what lies ahead in our purpose and let’s begin this bravery-inducing call by starting with growing ourselves before we worry about growing our brands, our companies, or our passions.

Let’s start by believing we are already able, that we are already in the fiery flames that are molding and refining us into gold.

Remember that gold is beautiful, worthy, and of absolute high value.

And that’s exactly what you are.