...and then, came Cheryl.

After I released my first blog post “Pennies from Heaven,” I had some people ask questions about my journey, the answers to which, I thought, would lend themselves nicely to new blog posts!

First question: How did you know you were ready to take the next step, create a website and start seeing clients?

Answer: I wasn't sure that I was ready and had been stalling in ambivalence for months... and then, came Cheryl....

In 2016, I had been on my spiritual journey for three years. I had taken a bunch of classes, I had sat in practice circles, I did as much in the safety of my own home and select classes as I could...

And then... I got to that uncomfortable place where I felt like I was the college student that kept hanging back with the high schoolers. I heard my teachers say “the best practice is out there in the world, with real sitters" (sitters are what we call clients in the spirit biz)... I knew I was at the critical point of needing to move beyond the classroom in order to continue to grow, and yet, I was scared, scared, scared!

Not only scared, but resistant. I was afraid I wasn't good enough. I was scared that I was not really a medium. I was afraid that I would go out there in the real world, give a bad reading and then discredit all other intuitive and mediums out there who were doing really amazing work. Perhaps it was a little dramatic, but I felt the responsibility of the entire spiritual community rested upon my shoulders; if I went out there and did a poor job, then everyone would think what we are doing is fake and that we are a bunch of frauds. Oh, the pressure!

That was the fear.. and what about the resistance? Well, that was about doing something that felt hard. I am sick of hard. I have done hard, I don't want any more hard! How do I move into this new part of my life without it feeling hard?

The only thing I could think to do was to ask Spirit to show me the way of ease. And that's what I did. I asked every day, just in my head, “If I am supposed to do this, show me how, in a way that feels natural and organic.”

And then I just let go of it. I asked, and released. I did not dwell, I did not search.

On September 10, Dave and I set up our tent at Andover Day. Being our third year tabling at this massive event, we had the procedure down. We set up intentions for ourselves, we planned to take a lunch break to step away from the craziness of the crowds, we brought lots of water and snacks, and nice music to play while we set up.

For those who don't know, my “other job” is being the co-owner of Clear and Now Holistic Healing Center as well as a full-time psychotherapist. (Someone recently called this my “side job,” which I think I may adopt!)

Being a reformed “Quiet Kid,” a lifelong introvert, and having a tendency to be drained by crowds, engaging with small talk with strangers is usually not my first choice of how to spend a Saturday.

My “People Pleaser” acts up, my “Anxious Re-hasher” loves to replay conversations and what else I “should” have said, and my “I Just Wanna Go Home!” usually pouts about being put in a position such as this. However, I have worked with these parts of me for quite some time, so I have found ways to manage all of them and create more fun for myself...

At the start of the day, I turned to Dave and said “Ok, let's make a psychic list. Let's try to guess a few things that will happen to us today. We named a couple things that we may see, like