Buy the lotto ticket, seriously.

Oh my favorite friends & courageous readers,

This letter is a *fun* but important one.

And, my heart is so happy & smirking. I knew you were my people — thank you for your excitement and love of this new series: The Lioness Letters. You can always click reply to any of my emails or click the ‘heart’ + leave me a comment on Substack. I personally read every single one and it’s just way more fun for me to have a dialogue with you. :)

I’m so happy you’re here! Now, for Letter #2…

Have you ever had an urge to do something but it didn’t always make logical sense?

To go somewhere, to purchase something, call someone, book a ticket, create something, say/share something, or to buy a lotto ticket? ;) 

This past summer, one of my besties was telling me for a good week about an urge she felt to purchase a lotto ticket. She’s never boughten one before but couldn’t shake it… laughing at herself. 

Finally, I just said, “Babe, buy the ticket. I mean sure, it’d be fun if you win… we’re totally going on an epic girls trip. But buy it… to build trust with yourself (& the Divine) and to show yourself that you’re willing to listen to your nudges and intuition even when they don’t make logical “sense”. Even when you have no idea how this puzzle piece fits in your story / timeline. Buy the ticket and just let that act of trust in yourself be the lesson, the ‘win’ in and of itself. The rest is just a bonus, a cherry on top.” 🍒

She bought the ticket.

She didn’t “win” 😏 BUT the self-trust, joy, and tuning into her own knowing was activated more deeply — less outsourcing, more resourcing within.

Side Note: I was 20 years old and had the same nudge to buy a lotto ticket while shopping at my local grocery store but my “logical voice” was like, “That’s silly, you won’t win.” The next day, a Lotto ticket winner was announced (millions upon millionsss! $$) and the winning ticket?! A ticket of randomly selected numbers FROM THE GROCERY I WAS AT!!!!!!!!!! Gah, LOL. 

MY CAREER:

One night after feeling a bit frustrated and bored with where my career was headed, I randomly (*not so random looking back!*) googled a string of a handful of things I was passionate about. The search brought up the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I devoured everything on their website, panicked a bit, and enrolled that night — while still in grad school, working full time, and NO clue where that training would take me.

It launched my entire career I have today, the health I have, and my relationship with my body. Wildly grateful I followed that nudge. (Note: It didn’t do all of that, but that *1* action was the catalyst for that trajectory). 

MY LOVE LIFE:

My hubs and I were neighbors when we were little (yes, I had a mega crush on him. Him not so much :)). Our families moved apart and lost touch. When I was in college in Michigan, I *randomly* saw there was a fair of summer internships… One including a location in Colorado I had heard his family had moved to. I thought, “Maybe the person at the booth will know them and I can say hi.” The person at the table… my husband’s dad. The rest is history. Intuition followed, domino pushed.

THE BECOMING HIVE:

In 2019, I create The Becoming Hive — a ‘gym’ membership for your soul: heart, goals, self-care, & growth. We had hundreds of women all over the world in it. And, something felt off for me in the delivery. I followed the “knowing” and paused the offering, even though the profit, testimonials, the everything made logical sense to keep going. Months later, parts of the B Hive led to the creation of my Magic Makers program (one of my best works). AND… 5 years later, the concept has been reimagined, realigned, and will be rebirthed shortly with something I’m wildly proud of that will impact women on such a deeper level.

The Becoming Hive 2.0 loading… 🏹🍯

DAILY HITS:

From the urge to send a text to a friend and she responds, “OMG I was just thinking about you, like 1 minute ago!”… to purchasing a dress or necklace that didn’t make sense and a few months/years later was the exact piece I didn’t know I needed… 

Each of these… it was as though my future self was giving me nudges and clues for what my heart and life needed but I didn’t “know” it yet… and yet I did.

Often in the psychology and self-development world, people will often talk about “quantum leaping” — a massive and rapid uplevel or change in state of who you are being and living — which is all fun and sexy.

Annnnd '“buying the lotto ticket” (i.e. following your own nudges) also collapses time for who we are meant to be and become. 

I’m all for using our brains, intentionally designing our lives, and a strategic plan. I geek out on it all! Strategy is in my top 3 strengths for the Strengths Finder assessment…. Annnd the willingness to be guided, listen to the inner knowing, and build that self-trust (and God-trust) is priceless.

In a world where we are inundated with information (right at our finger tips) and outsourcing everything… we also need to be reminded of our own inner knowing and being resourced within. 

It might be controversial but…

++ I believe it’s safe to trust your desires (the ones with nothing to prove, nothing to hide, no one to impress energy — the Divinely given ones). 

++ I believe it’s safe to let yourself want what you want. 

++ I believe we can and should follow the nudges that light up our hearts.

What if each intuitive whisper was a little trail of cake crumbs guiding us to our maximum, favorite selves and purpose.… but we have to be willing to see/hear it and to follow the crumbs?

A few favorites + variety of fuel for this:

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (fiction)

Very Ralph — a documentary

Green Lights by Matthew McConaughey

So…

What muscle (outsourcing vs. intuition) are you building?

What “lotto ticket” has been tugging at your heart but you haven’t yet listened?

Because…

Dear self,
Buy the lotto ticket*, seriously. 
You’ll thank me later. 
xx, past, present, future me 

Strengthen that muscle. Get a little bit louder, a bit bolder — i.e., courage, dear heart. And as I said last week, Don’t be afraid to be seen trying.

with love, from me to us
xoxo, kdo

P.S. New KDO Edit (fave finds) are coming in hot next week. Can’t wait to share.

These emails are archived on Substack! You’ll get the Lioness Letters delivered to your email inbox just like we always have. But, if you’re looking for an archive, on-the-go app (I’m obsessed!), or to connect with me/us (I would LOVE to hear from you!)— Substack just takes us to the next level and it’s free. Leave me a note or a ♥️ below!