We live in a world obsessed with certainty, not acting until we have clear direction. As creators, entrepreneurs, and leaders, we are constantly pressured to have a flawless master plan. We are taught that before we take a single step, we must have everything meticulously mapped out from the very beginning.
But what happens when that path isn’t obvious? What happens when you feel a restless stirring inside, but you can’t quite articulate what it means or where it’s leading you?
We often mistake this discomfort for failure. We assume that if we don’t have all the answers, we must be doing something wrong. But the truth is, the wild, untamed part of us is simply trying to get our attention. In today’s post, we are talking about why discomfort is actually your most valuable data point, how to stop waiting for absolute certainty, and how to find a clear direction by simply paying attention to what makes your body and soul feel alive.
I am also incredibly excited to share a beautiful invitation at the end of this post to join me in France this September to awaken your inner artist. Let’s dive in.
You will recognize your own path when you come upon it, because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need. —Jerry Gillies
The Wild Part of Us Is Trying to Get Our Attention
There is a game many of us played as kids called warmer, colder.
You take a few blind steps. Someone calls out warmer if you are getting closer to the hidden object, colder if you are drifting away. You keep moving, adjusting, and paying attention to the feedback.
Most people think building a life, business, or body of creative work should feel certain from the start. One brilliant vision. One clear direction. One perfect answer.
But creative lives are rarely built that way.
They are built by noticing contrast—is this warmer or colder?
This feels alive. This drains me. This expands me. This makes me shrink.
Discomfort Is Data
We often treat discomfort like a stop sign. A sign we are failing. A sign we should retreat, numb out, or stay where things are familiar.
But discomfort is data.
Not all discomfort means no.
Some discomfort is the sensation of growth, stretching our identity wider than it has ever gone before. Some discomfort is grief for the version of us that can no longer stay small. Some discomfort is the ache that comes from ignoring ourselves for too long.
The problem is that many of us wait for clear direction, absolute certainty before we move.
We do not need a one-year plan to begin listening. We only need contrast.
I hear it constantly from entrepreneurs and creators: “I do not know what I want!”
But often, that is not remotely accurate.
Usually, we know what we do not want with stunning precision.
We know which meetings leave us depleted. We know which offers feel performative. We know which clients make us tense before every call. We know which version of success feels like a costume two sizes too tight. We know which relationships have slowly lost their luster.
That contrast matters.
One of my favorite journaling prompts is deceptively simple: I know I do not want this…What is its opposite?
If your current work feels rigid, maybe the opposite is spontaneous moves. If your calendar feels suffocating, maybe the opposite is spaciousness. If your content feels lifeless, maybe the opposite is play. If your business feels disconnected, maybe the opposite is depth. If your heart feels flat-lined, maybe the opposite is fiery intimacy.
We do not rediscover desire by forcing clarity. We rediscover it by paying attention to what makes our bodies contract and what makes them come alive.
In my book, Buoyant, I wrote:
“How do we find our way back to the desire to create anything we want?
We return to whatever fills the well of inspiration for us. To whatever feels like play. To the work we’d do all day for free because it connects us powerfully to joy and brings us alive. We put down obligation and duty. We remember to protect our sacred energy. We shore up our boundaries and put our agenda first for once. We move our bodies in fresh air and gift ourselves restorative, unplugged time. We allow ourselves to reflect, remember what has been calling to our hearts. Something that may seem frivolous, perhaps too wild. An adventure.”
I believe most people are not exhausted because we are incapable. We are exhausted because we are trying to override what our lives have been attempting to tell us.
The pain is often not the circumstance itself.
It is the friction of remaining in situations that no longer fit while arguing with ourselves about whether we are allowed to change them.
It is the internal negotiation. The ambivalence. The fear of disappointing people.
The fear of making a bold move on our own behalf.
And yet our lives keep offering clues: Warmer. Colder.
The body knows before the mind catches up.
Which brings me to something I am deeply excited to share.
An Invitation to Find Clear Direction: The Wild Beasts Retreat
This September 9 – 13, I am hosting the Wild Beasts Retreat in Collioure, France, the birthplace of Fauvism, where artists abandoned convention in favor of bold color and fearless expression.
They were called les fauves. The wild beasts.
And this retreat is an invitation to become one.
Not a “perfect” artist. An honest, unfettered one.
This experience is designed for the entrepreneur, creator, dreamer, and seeker who feels something stirring just beyond the edges of their current life. The person craving beauty, expression, expansion, joy, and a more artful way of living.
We will paint, explore, reflect, and create together in an intimate circle on the Mediterranean coast in the South of France.
We will ask deeper questions than duty-bound productivity ever could:
- What do you actually want to bring to life?
- What has been waiting for your attention?
- What part of you is ready to emerge?
The Experience: Art, Beauty, and Expansion
We will stay in a stunning boutique hotel (each of us in private rooms) with mountain and sea views, a pool, hammam, jacuzzi, and sun deck. We’ll feast on exquisite meals, curated adventures, and beautiful surprises woven throughout the experience.
Before we arrive, we will gather as a group (via Zoom) to uncover what you are craving most deeply. During the retreat, you will create art that reflects your authentic energy and desires. And afterward, we will anchor those discoveries into your real life, so the experience continues long after France.
You will leave with more than paintings. You will leave with a stronger relationship to yourself.
A clear direction. A renewed capacity for joy, delight.
And perhaps most importantly, permission to stop abandoning what makes you feel alive.
If something in you feels warmer as you read this, pay attention.
That feeling matters.
Come to Collioure. Come meet the artist within you.
Let’s run free.
