Natalie Vartanian's Blog

Putting your Money Where your mouth is!

WE DID IT! We bought our tickets last night for Costa Fuckin Rica! My friend, Sally, and I were on the phone with each other, going through the steps together on the website, selecting the flight, filling out our billing information, etc. I’m sure part of it was to metaphorically hold each other’s hands so one or the other doesn’t chicken out and BACK out. There was definitely a moment for me where the thought popped up ever so subtly and quietly of “Well, we can still change our minds. We haven’t purchased the tickets yet.” But that was the point. We both knew if we did not just BUY the tickets yesterday then it wouldn’t be real, we wouldn’t have any skin in the game, we wouldn’t be PUTTING OUR MONEY WHERE OUR MOUTHS ARE! I’ll admit a little scream escaped my lips when we finally clicked the purchase button. Actually I still want to scream just thinking about it! I mean, come on, zip lining through the rainforest – how freaking cool is that?!?! AAAAHHHH!

With all that folks … it’s official! Sally and I are going to Costa Rica for a month. We leave in less than three weeks. We plan to rent a place for the month so we can really get the feel of living in another country, to experience what it would be like to work and play anywhere in the world! The whole thing from idea to reality took less than a week. Four days to be exact! Not that I did not have to wrestle some demons in the process before I committed. Some big stuff showed up, that felt very real and scary, around my not wanting to break my word and disappoint others. Yet this was exactly what I needed to go through to get that this is MY life and sometimes you WILL disappoint other people to be true to yourself.

I got coaching from Sally, reconnected with what I want this year to look like and had the conversations with folks about prior commitments for April (and in some cases coming clean about my fear of disappointing them). Trust me, the confession felt good. Like this is all out in the open … I’m an open book. I honestly thought I used to be, but compared to how I live my life now I know that wasn’t true. This is not me at 18 years old lying to my boss about why I need to all of sudden go to Mexico for a week (and extending it to two weeks because there was a ‘family’ emergency).

The vision I got clear on though is actually that it’s about more than just how this year is going to play out … it’s about how I want to live my LIFE! One of the main reasons I even chose coaching is so that I could do my “job” from ANYWHERE. I would not have any location limitations as to how I can empower, inspire and serve people in encouraging them to live THEIR dream lives. Putting my money where my mouth was also meant that I am not going to be a hypocrite … how am I going to coach other people on fulfillment and stretching out of their comfort zone to live “out of the box” if I am staying small, safe … comfortable?!


So this CRAZY idea of “hey let’s go live in Costa Rica for a month … oh and leave in THREE WEEKS” has inspired me in not only amping up the adventure frequency, but it finally got me to just start writing my blog about this year. I came up with the idea that I want to write regularly about this year of the Bucket List/First Time doing something/Something I’ve always wanted to do/REINVENTION. It was actually a couple of my friends that inspired the idea … they made comments about just posting what I do on a daily bases so they know what is going on. (I admit, my life is hard to keep up with sometimes the pace it moves at is break-need speed). The thought had been there for a week or two, and would have probably sat there for another week or two because I was attached to how it should look. Do I wait until I decide what the next Version of my website is going to look life? Do I have a separate blog? What COLORS do I want? You get the drift … analyze it to death. Then I said “Fuck It!” None of that stuff matters … it’s about getting the word out. So here is the first entry! Spontaneous and Real (fittingly just like ME)! I hope you come along for the ride as I chronicle this crazy ass year. Ha ha

Here is to walking the talk and putting money where your mouth is! ;)

March 7, 2011 ~ NV

posted by Natalie Vartanian @ 1:04 PM