Let’s talk about leveling up.

No one levels up by accident. Challenges come, and you can use them as excuses...

...or you can thank the universe for this opportunity to face your fears and be transformed.

When we are comfortable, we don’t strive. When we feel the NEED for change so deeply that we can’t abide another moment of inaction... we strive. We show up. We commit.

I thought I was comfortable working my service job for a long time. When I look, I can see the beauty in it. Service is a good thing. Coffee is not all bad. But the truth is I was settling because I was scared. I was a brilliant mind but I was too creative, too chaotic—I didn’t think I was capable of true commitment, of sustaining MORE, of showing up for myself and my dreams consistently. I was a college dropout. I’d never “finished” anything.

About a year ago, I looked into my future and I saw a lot of lattes. I saw big beautiful opportunities I would be too afraid or unprepared to take if I didn’t take the little ones now. I saw a big black hole where my dreams could have been, and I saw my hopes for my future crumbling and fading to nothingness as time ticked on and I kept steaming milk, singing to myself, wondering why no one wanted to invest in me. I saw the death of my potential... and I couldn’t fucking take it.

And I realized the fear holding me back was just that—fear. I didn’t KNOW that I wasn’t capable. I was just AFRAID that I might not be. And I was never gonna find out if I didn’t show up and TRY.

I saw that future so clearly and I hated it so much that I HAD to take steps towards change. I had to commit to SOMETHING, ANYTHING that I really believed in. Not someone else’s dream, but MINE.

So I went back to school—I forced myself to show up and do my best every day, knowing I couldn’t say “I couldn’t” if I hadn’t actually tried. A year later, I have a 4.0 GPA and my name on the Dean’s list. I proved to myself that I COULD show up consistently if I made the necessary sacrifices to commit. I leveled up. And if I could do it once, I could do it again.

Naudiz is the rune of need and necessity. It is the need that prompts the drastic change.

It is the rune of sacrifice—the sacrifice that needs to be made so that the necessary change can manifest.

It represents that which falls to the wayside when you commit your energy to what is most important in the now. It is the relationships, habits, addictions, and limiting beliefs that must end in order for you to move forward.

What do you NEED so desperately you would sacrifice just about anything else to get it?

What must you sacrifice to get it?

Are you ready?

If you enjoyed this post, you may enjoy my book, Modern Runes: Discover the Magic of Casting and Divination for Everyday Life.