This month’s theme is Shoots + Roots…truly one of the best metaphors for a happy business + life if we ever heard one. It begs the question: how does YOUR garden grow?

If we had a nickle for every time we’ve heard someone say “follow your heart” and mean it, really mean it, right down to their toes, we’d be able to buy some vegan soft serve at our favorite bakery.

Sidenote: We’re not completely cynical. Folks often tell us to “follow our heart,” then quickly chase it with “but have a lot of money + a Plan B first.” Which is the exact moment the army of indies comes forth from our mind, fists pumping, voices united: “Don’t you know who we are!? We are creatives! We don’t need no stinkin’ Plan B!”

If we had a nickle for every time we’ve heard someone say ‘you have to [fill in the blank] to succeed,’ we’d be able to buy the bakery. The blank is usually filled with schooling, corporate ladders, and no mention of fun. (Unfortunately, no explanation is necessary here.)

Meh.

But, guess what!?

We only want the soft serve.

For a long time, we were struggling with notion of more.

You see, we were told that in order to succeed, we had to want more, to ask for more, to crave more, to get more. More subscribers, more traffic, more ideas, more posts, more…

The problem was, we didn’t want more. We wanted enough, but we were told enough wasn’t enough. If we really meant it, it had to be more.

So we continued to listen to all of the voices because they really seemed to know what was going on. They really seemed to have success down to a science. They really seemed happy.

You know what?

They did. They do. They are.

Really.

However, it was their version of success that required more. Their happy is studded in diamonds + designer garb, exotic travel, and things we’ve never even heard of. Our happy wears flip-flops + hand-me-down sweaters, it craves time at home, and a slow pace. Both versions of success are equally important + valid.

All versions are.

We all want happiness + success, but we need to define those terms for ourselves before we can start moving toward them. Before we can grow shoots + roots.

Why did it take us so long to realize that success means different things to different people?

The short answer is: we asked questions of everyone else + forgot to turn those questions inward. (Photosynthesize, folks! Photosynthesize!)

We are not suggesting that everyone was trying to misguide us. It was the opposite, in fact.

We were asking questions of the people we held as authorities on the matter, and they were giving us the answers they came up with after working on the equation for themselves. Their answers.

We neglected to first accept that we are the only people who can solve for the x in our lives + work.

It’s only fair to mention that finding your own brand of happy + moving toward it isn’t always easy. Following your heart takes guts…

Thankfully we all have hearts + guts.

That’s why we’re here. We’re not afraid to plant seeds + care for them, to touch a few bugs + worms, to pull out the weeds…to get our hands dirty in the garden.

Here’s to YOUR shoots + roots,