creativity

Leap: The Next Stop on My Career Path

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

Once people find out I’ve given notice at my corporate job, the next question is always, “So, now what will you do?” Those who know me as a yoga teacher assume I will plow myself into that career full-time. Those who know me as a writer assume that will be my singular pursuit. And those who have worked with me as a product developer figure I’m heading off to the freelance world. My answer: I’m doing all of it.

My leap from my current job had very little to do with that job and a whole lot to do with the kind of life I’m designing. I want the freedom to work out my passions every single day. My singular passion is to help people live extraordinary lives and I do that in a few ways:

1.) I teach yoga to help people cultivate a sense of well-being that they can take into their lives every day

2.) I write stories that inspire and ignite people’s imaginations

3.) I develop useful products and services that people love

Those are my goals, every day, everywhere I go, in everything I do.

So, now what will I do? Exactly what I’ve always done, but now it always will be on my own terms.

adventure, India, travel

India Takes It To the Limit, Everytime

Christa Avampato
The store where people who live along the backwaters of Alleppey buy just about everything they need.

I’m not sure why I have Eagles songs running through my head as I’m re-reading my India journal. I’m sure there’s a cosmic reason for that but it has yet to strike me. I’ll get back to you on that.

India is a land of contradictions. It is at once limitless in its diversity and possibility and yet it tested my personal limits every moment of every day. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, or at least had figured out the tiny footprint of ground I happened to be standing on at any one time, it would flip head over heels into a different realization.

One concept of limits that India revealed to me was the idea that every object has a full life.

“In India,” Jose said, “we use everything until the end of its life.”

Indians don’t run out and get everything bright, shiny, and new because there’s a sale or just because they feel like it. They replace items when they need replacing, and not a moment sooner. In the mainstream throw-away American culture, we’re more likely to toss something away because we’re tired of looking at it than we are to use it until it’s used up. We’re changing our ways, some more quickly than others, but we’re a long way off from collectively using everything we have until it’s no longer useful.

I love the idea of honoring everything we have for the lifespan it’s intended to have. It’s caused me to think and re-think my own buying and tossing habits. In actuality, we don’t need much in the way of possessions to get by and what we do have we should use to its full extent.

This is the thing that stunned me more than anything else about India: in the smallest of moments lie the greatest of lessons.

adventure, generosity, India

Hotel India: You Can Check Out Anytime You Like But You Will Never Be Asked to Leave

Christa Avampato
View from my hotel room in Munnar, India, at sunrise

” ‘Get out’ is not a phrase in any of our languages. Indians don’t know that term,” Jose said.

Rob laughed loudly. “Well come to the U.S. and you’ll learn that phrase quickly. We use it a lot.”

“That’s a shame,” Jose replied. “If you are in a restaurant here, no one would ever tell you they’re closed and it’s time to leave. It would never happen.”

And I thought Southerners had cornered the market on hospitality. I was skeptical of Jose’s reply. Actually, I thought he was flat-out lying. Every one has a closing time and India couldn’t be an exception to that universal truth.

In Munnar, Jose took us to an authentic shop to get Ayurvedic massages.

“You can come by any time you like,” said the shop owner.

“What time do you close?” I asked.

The shop owner just stared at me and blinked.

“We can come by later on tonight after our tours?” I asked. A bit more staring and blinking followed. Ha! I knew I’d find a closing time in India.

“Sure, whatever is good for you,” he said.

“7:30?” asked Jose.

“Sure. 7:30 is perfect.”

“Done.”

Jose took us up the mountain to the hotel so we could check in. After they upgraded us to one of the private cottages (just because they could and wanted to), we learned we were going to miss the last dinner slot there due to our massages. (For the record, I felt like a complete jackass for having such a touristy excuse.) The proprietor said it was not a problem. They would hold a separate seating just for us.

“Yeah, right,” I thought to myself. Thank goodness I still had some chocolate chip cookies in my bag for dinner later on tonight.

When we returned from the massages (and that will be a separate post in and of itself!), sure enough dinner and the staff were all waiting for us with a delicious several course meal. I was floored. How could this be happening?

But this kind of scenario kept happening everywhere we went. Once again, India made a fool out of me, or rather I made a fool out of myself, to myself, by doubting her. Jose was right to an alarming degree. In India, they will always leave the light on for you. I wonder what the Eagles would think of that.

adventure, community, India

India Proves That We Can All Just Get Along

Christa Avampato
An example of the diversity of India

With the election season fast approaching, we’re already hearing the painful cries of what divides us. Religion, race, political party, ideology, money or lack there of. Anyone from the outside looking in on our politics would think that what divides us will split us apart.

Enter, India.

This photo is one of my favorite snapshots from my trip to India, not because the sign itself is aesthetically pleasing in any way. However, the principle it embodies is a thing of beauty. India is everything. If ever we wanted to see an incredible melting pot, India is it. Its multiple layers of diversity in every aspect of human life are overwhelming. If you are looking for your pack, it is somewhere here in India. You will have to root it out of the quagmire, but rest assured your efforts will be rewarded with like minds who invariably know other like minds. Seek and eventually you will find.

When I asked Jose how so much diversity can exist in relative peace, he was a bit confused by the question. “We don’t judge the opinions of others. We may not like them. We may not agree with them. But we recognize that they have a right to exist. I believe what I want to believe and so can others. All others.”

Not a bad principle to live by. Not bad at all.

adventure, change, choices, courage, creativity

Leap: The Day After

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“What saves us is to take a step. Then another step.” ~ C. S. Lewis

A lot of people take about the day they made a change, a big decision, a new commitment.

But what about the day after? Do they wake up panicked by what they’ve done? Does their conviction grow each day after? Here is how I felt: just fine. Oddly fine.

Sometimes people fear staying too long in a situation that no longer suits them. I believe in my case I stayed just the right amount of time. I got my finances in order, my direction became clear and focused, and then leaping was the next logical step.

There were certainly moments of trepidation and fear. I’m sure there will continue to be these moments. They do pass. I just take another step, and keep going. Today is that second step, the second step on a new path. Of course it will feel rocky and of course I will feel unsure. It is new. It doesn’t know me. And I don’t know it. Yet. But we will grow together.

career, courage, creativity, dreams

Leap: My New Year’s Resolution Is Complete – I Took the Leap

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“I am not afraid. I was born to do this.” ~ Joan of Arc

On January 1st, I started down the path that would culminate in a leap from my current job. I thought it would be December by the time I actually made the leap but yesterday I gave my notice and my last day at my job will be June 15th. My co-workers are sad and disappointed as much as they are proud and excited to see me give my dream a real shot at coming true. I am so grateful for the lessons I’ve learned there and excited for the next chapter.

For the past 4 years I have been working full-time as a product developer for a financial services company and now I will turn utilize my experience toward teaching, writing, and creative product development projects, particularly (but not exclusively) focusing on technology in the healthcare and education spaces.

When I graduated from business school 5 years ago, I never imagined that I would contemplate working for myself. I made excuses: I’m too young; I don’t have enough experience; I’ll never make enough money to support myself. They are all valid fears, but there was one fear that was greater than all of these combined. What if I never devote my time to the projects that really light me up? How would I reflect on my life knowing that I didn’t do everything I could to merge my work with my passions?

And then the answer became simple – I have to at least try and that means letting go of what seems stable and secure for the sake of following the path that is most authentic. In actuality, the latter is the safest road. When we put ourselves in charge of our futures, we find renewed energy, strength, and creativity. We understand the true value of our time. We find our greatest worth.

So now as this chapter comes to a close, a bright, shiny, new one begins. Thank you so much for sharing this journey with me, for all of your support and encouragement, for believing that we can all be exactly the people we are meant to be, living the lives we are meant to live. We’re on our way. We’re building our wings.

adventure, creativity, curiosity, time

Leap: Take Time to Be Curious

Christa Avampato

“What we need is not the will to believe but the will to find out.” ~ Bertrand Russell

A company I know recently went through a very large reorganization due to significant changes in leadership. My friends there who kept their roles are being asked to trust the vision and strategy of the new leadership team on blind faith. They are being asked to believe in something that has not yet been proven, that doesn’t even have any results on which to base their belief. In the face of such significant change, this is a tall order.

The company recently surveyed the current employees to ask how they feel about the new strategy. Many felt positive about the changes, though they had a lot of doubt about the ability of the new leadership team to make good on their promises. I smiled when my friends told me that. It is exactly the right answer. We may not be able to control all of our circumstances, at work or in life, but we always have the right to our curiosity. We always have the right, and I would go so far as to say the obligation, to say, “Let’s see how it all unfolds.”

Any time we are going through change, we experience a bit of seizing up. That seizing up can be physical, emotional, or mental. It is just resistance, and we can breathe through it. It’s a very natural part of change. It’s from fear of the unknown. It’s meant as a protective device, though too often it becomes a weight around our necks that keeps us from moving in the direction we’re meant to go.

Our curiosity is a potent tool to use during these moments of seizing up, second only to our breath. When that resistance to change finds us, as it always does, we take a big inhale, then exhale, and then give ourselves the permission to be curious about the outcome. Have the will not to believe that this is the right thing to happen but the will to find out if it’s the right thing to happen to us right now.

Let the questions rise up. Why? How? When? Where? With whom? Dig in to the answers and don’t let anyone tell you that you must follow along simply because they said so. Question until you get answers you can believe in. And if your questions aren’t met satisfactorily, you have the right to walk out and carve your own path. Only you own your time and only you get to decide how it’s best spent. Seek, and eventually, you will find.

opportunity, time

Leap: Forget Time

Christa Avampato

Our conceptions of time hold us back. We’re either too old or too young. We don’t have enough experience. We don’t have enough education. We don’t have the right contacts. We don’t have the right skills. We haven’t been at our current jobs long enough or we’ve been around too long to change. We’re too old or too young to get married, have kids, buy a house, travel around the world. We’re too old or too young to create change. We use time as an excuse to not take action. We use time as a way of wiggling out of rising up to be everything we are meant to be.

Time’s up. No more waiting. No more excuses. No more looking forward or looking back. You are have right now. In this moment, we are capable of great change. And it’s true in every moment. Go and be exactly who you want to be. Time doesn’t stand still. Time doesn’t wait for us. But in time, there lives every possibility. Go grab it!

creativity

Leap: Remembering Our Heroes On Memorial Day

Christa Avampato

When I was a kid, Memorial Day was a big deal. Everyone in our small town went to the parade because everyone in my town was somehow connected to the military – either personally or through friends or family. Most of the men had served at one point or another, particularly the ones who were of the generations who fought in WWII and Korea. At the end of the parade there was a 21 gun salute at the cemetery and people always cried during that piece. As a kid I didn’t understand why that was such an emotional moment for so many people. Now, of course, I do. Particularly given our last decade. So much has been given, so much has been lost. It is overwhelming and I am humbled by their sacrifice and courage.

This Memorial Day as we’re chowing down and enjoying the freedom and happiness that is associated with official kick-off of summer, let’s take a moment to remember those who fought for us so that we could have days like this. They’ve so much for all of us for so long. Let’s take the time to remember them, thanks them, and support them and their families.

blog, books, social media, story, writer, writing

Leap: A Facebook Community for My Readers

Christa Avampato

5 years ago this weekend I started this blog. I never thought it would become such a labor of love that would bring so many incredible gifts. And finally, after all of this time, I got it together and created a Facebook Page expressly for the readers of this blog for several reasons:

1.) To provide a way for me to connect more closely with all of you and for readers to connect with one another

2.) To promote the works of other writers and to give readers the opportunity to do the same

3.) To offer all of us a way to share what inspires us – books, articles, photographs, stories, good works in our communities, quotes, travels, ideas, questions, etc.

4.) To give writers another way to promote their own work and connect with other writers

5.) To connect people who are taking big leaps in their careers and lives

I want this page to be a place where we can all offer up ideas and commentary in a supportive and thoughtful way. As I’m preparing to make my own professional leap, I’ve met so many people who are in the process of doing the same thing. Here’s our chance to get behind one another and encourage each other on the path forward. I really want this page to be incredibly dynamic with many contributions by a wide circle of people who are curious and passionate about living their best lives.

I really hope you’ll all join me, like the page, and then let the sharing begin at http://www.facebook.com/ChristaInNewYork.com.