Written by: Kelly Snodgrass, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
7 years ago, I was in a bar in the Marina in San Francisco. I was fresh off a breakup and a boy approached me as I was ordering a drink. My jaw dropped to the floor when instead of opening by asking me my name, he asked me what I did for a living.
Little did he know that his status-laden question would change the course of my future. That I would spend the next 7 years of my life committed to the idea of no longer being defined by my work, and instead of creating a life full of balance. The attention economy has been here since I was a teen. A hundred likes in minutes. Immediate results across tens of thousands of customers with a single email. Instant access to information with the click of a button. And yet all these things lack something. Depth. They give me a morsel of whatever it is I’m seeking compared to their time-intensive cousins. Calling friends rather than posting to invest in personal relationships. Creating customer service policies that develop long term trust. Reading books or taking courses to educate yourself. So many of us have dreams. To own a food truck. To have a fulfilling partnership. To write a book. To stop working so damn much.
And we want to snap our fingers and see it in front of us. As if we can manifest it by simply willing it into existence. Manifesting has its relevance ‒ you need to believe something is possible in order for it to become reality.
And yet believing it’s possible isn’t enough on its own. You have to throw in a healthy dose of dedication, resilience, tenacity & passion alongside living in a way that reflects your future desires. That fateful night in San Francisco I decided that my work would no longer define me ‒ & that I would not live a life surrounded by people who let work define them. I started telling people I was “going to retire asap”. My dream at the time was to move from San Francisco to Australia and just simply hang out for a while ‒ to stop working altogether. But life happened, and I got offered a job in LA. So I went. It was a good opportunity. And LA was slower than SF ‒ or so I thought. Within 6 months of getting there, I knew I was in the wrong place. So after 18 months in LA, I found my life taking me to London for another exciting and slightly more aligned opportunity. So I went. And 6 months into that I also knew this move wasn’t what I was seeking.
I had never felt further from retirement. I was now on a visa and needed my job to stay in London. I decided not to quit because the one thing I did know was that London was better lifestyle-wise than America was for balanced living.
So I waited. For 2 years. For my Italian citizenship to come through. Those 2 years were a series of highs and lows. I let myself feel like the victim of my ever privileged circumstances.
But in that 2 years opportunities came my way. To consult, to learn, to teach. Some I resisted to the nth degree. At the moment I thought it was exactly what I didn’t want (more work!). I wanted to quit my job and live off the grid.
And yet life had something else in store for me. To keep working, and learn how to live a slower lifestyle alongside a fast-paced world. Instead of hiding myself away, becoming a model that this is indeed possible.
What I've learned is that it was possible because I was uncompromising on my values and dreams. More importantly, I began to recognize that compromising in a single moment didn’t mean I was off course.
Those deviations were necessary steps ‒ and ultimately were exactly the opportunities I needed.
My advice? Index for experience alongside money. Take chances and introductions. Do favors that make no “sense”. Allow yourself to wander. And simply trust you’ll get there.
Above all else ‒ to be patient. It might take you 7 years to open the food truck, to find the perfect partner, to write the book, to stop hustling so damn much. But if you never give up on that dream… well one day you just might see it come to be.
Kelly Snodgrass, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Kelly is a pioneer in authenticity & slow living. Starting her career with the traditional “climb the corporate ladder by doing whatever it takes” approach, after 10+ years burning out at tech at companies like Uber & Snapchat, she now dedicates herself to supporting individuals who wish to find balance and purpose. She does this by creating permission to live as much as they work, and to dedicate themselves to causes that truly light them up. Snodgrass has extensively trained in a full range of modalities including coaching, reiki, Human Design, design thinking, mediumship, neuroscience, women’s circles & more. Her coaching & consulting clients include Coinbase, Uber, Stripe, LinkedIn, Pollen, Deloitte & Zynga. Her mission: to make living authentically & slowly a societal norm.
