Unplugged From the Matrix

Let me introduce to you a lovely friend I met on Twitter - Raelinn Doty - or better know as @raelinn_wine. Sometimes when you start conversing on twitter, or any other social media account for that matter, you hit it off and just know that you will be life long friends.  Raelinn is a wonderful friend and has been so kind to share her passion with all of us.


Living My Passion
"...Unplugged From the Matrix"

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favour in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” 

Henry David Thoreau - Walden (American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher,1817-1862) 

I first read Walden in the early 1990's. I was transformed in many ways through reading it. It was the beginning of a new journey. Thoreau's words resonated strongly with me. I could not deny that I was now living a new life---a more expansive one and more compassionate. My eyes were open now. Everything seemed like a small miracle. I felt as if I had awakened from a dreamless sleep or just got unplugged from the Matrix. I was like a kid in a candy store. I guess I still am. But from that time onward, I have lived my life in a way that constantly, however slowly it may appear at times, advances in the direction of my dreams.

 

I tend to dream big. I mean what's the point of dreaming, really, if it isn't HUGE?  The way I see it is very similar to the Thoreau quotation. If I dream big, aim for the stars, build castles in the air, and I really aim for it... I mean REALLY start behaving as if I can make it all happen---that I AM making it all happen---I find that it just happens, almost of its own volition, almost as if I have done nothing. There is hard work involved, to be sure (building the foundation under the castle in the air). And no one can do it but YOU. But the thing is, it doesn't FEEL like work. It is an incredible pleasure to wake up and do everything I love to do and call it work. There is a big caveat. It sometimes doesn't pay as well as you might like---Not at first. There will be tradeoffs. But eventually success will arrive. The important thing is to never give up on your dreams or yourself. If something doesn't work, scrap it. Learn from it. Start again smarter. Just don't give up.

 

For the past nearly 3 years, I have been working hard to bring my dreams into reality, traveling all over, uprooting myself time and again. I recently took a huge leap in the direction of my dreams with a new brand •r. I've pooled all my resources and poured them into one business... ME. Ask me if that is scary... go ahead. The answer is, it is TERRIFYING---terrifying, yet exhilarating! But behind it all is the massive, driving force that I MUST, that there is no other way. THIS is what I dream. THIS is what I will do, what I AM doing. And you know what... the success is already arriving. Almost before I even began. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

 

What's the takeaway? GO FOR IT! Whatever “IT” is for you. I bet you know what it is. Start advancing now. Does it mean drop everything, quit your job and take off? Not necessarily. Just begin advancing. Every day do something that inspires you, moves you ever closer to whatever “IT” is for you. And DON'T GIVE UP.

 

Need a little inspiration? I recommend you follow my dear friend Cynthia (Sin-Yi) Cheng on Twitter at @boldmsbond for her wonderful daily encouragement to be bold. If you happen to live in NYC, she holds breakfast meetings. http://www.msbondsbreakfastclub.com/about/the-how-of-ms-bond

 

If you enjoyed what I have to say and you are interested in what I'm doing now, you can find it HERE. http://www.raelinn.com

Follow Your Passion

Passaggio Wines

Evolution

Wine is definitely my passion, but how did I get here- not just physically here, but how did I know that a wine life style was my passion, my goal? Good question!

I really did stumble into this quite by accident. I probably always knew that I was supposed to like wine – but for this to be a driving passion in my life, now that took me by surprise.

One of the fondest memories I have was being a child and stomping grapes in a big wash tub (the kind they used for the old wringer washing machines) in my grandmother’s kitchen. My grandmother’s brother used to pull up in her driveway in his old pickup truck with bushel baskets full of grapes from his vines. I was too young to appreciate or care how many vines he had or what kind of grapes he grew; but I do remember how happy both he and my grandmother were talking about the wine they would bottle from the crop he had just delivered. He grew the grapes; my grandmother made the wine.

Flash forward several years and I was going to college. Being involved in the wine industry never crossed my mind as I was trying to figure out what my major should be; I had an aunt that told me I really needed to focus on business because that was where the money was. I took her advice, majored in business with a concentration in accounting. (Trust me; the personalities that do audits and tax returns are polar opposites of people in the wine industry!) I went to work in public accounting and then passed the CPA exam (not on the first try, but who’s counting?) Being in public accounting was tough; the hours were long and grueling and I was so exhausted at the end of the day that I couldn’t even enjoy a glass of wine. All I did was sleep so that I could get up and do it again the next day.

After a few years, I moved from public accounting to the private sector with a bang. I went to work for Richard Childress Racing (NASCAR, #3, Dale Earnhardt). I worked there for more than 10 years. The first few years were lots of fun but there was always something missing; the fulfillment you get from doing what you were meant to do. So I left and went to work for Richard Petty – another NASCAR icon, but the simple change in environment didn’t fill that void. After only two years at Petty Enterprises, the team was shut down. I was laid off work in January, 2009. For the first time ever, I was out of work and didn’t know what to do with myself or my time. But the timing couldn’t have been better!

Thanks to Murphy Goode, I decided to try out for the Murphy Goode Lifestyle Correspondent in the summer of 2009. While I didn’t land the job, I did dive headlong into the wonderful world of wine via social media. I was happy just surfing the net and tweeting about local wine events or half-price wine nights at local restaurants, etc. Then one day I received a DM (direct message) from a follower on Twitter. He wanted to know if I would look at his website and just let him know what I thought about it. Of course I said yes, but didn’t really work it into my schedule. So a couple of weeks later when he saw me on Facebook he asked what I thought of his site. I immediately jumped over at this point to check out the site and see what he was trying to do. The site wasn’t bad so we chatted online for a bit; then he asked if I would call him. I was so outside of my comfort zone calling this “stranger” I had met online; but I did it anyway.

This stranger is now my business partner on our website NC Vineyards , but I will never forget that first phone call. The first thing he said to me was that he didn’t want me to think he was some sort of pervert.

He told me he was married, had 2 children, and a steady job and that this website was just a business venture that he was trying to get off the ground. Since we live in the same area and had the same interest in North Carolina wines, he was hoping that I would take an interest in his website and help him. Turns out I am the wino; he is the techie, a perfect partnership.

About the time I really started cranking up my wine life style, I was called back to work by the Petty’s. Going back to work was a difficult decision but I needed a way to pay the bills. Two years later I am still working my 9-5 and even though I haven’t given up my day job, I am fortunate enough to work only four days a week and have Friday off. That’s when I visit local wineries, tweet about their wines and try to partner with them to promote the winery and their events on our website. That’s where I shine and it shows in the way I interact with the wineries.

We recently had a big wine festival here. It was so rewarding to be setting up my own booth to promote who we are and what we do; but to take it to another level, as each of the wineries got their own booth set up before the crowd flooded the streets, the winemakers and winery owners had a few minutes to walk around and say hi to each other. I was amazed at how many of them knew me (me???) and would stop to chat or give me a hug. The service we offer them on our website is working. We are getting the word out to people about the wineries and we are driving traffic to them.

My life continues to evolve and one day not too far away I will be able to say goodbye to my 9 – 5 job and spend my days talking wine, sipping wine, promoting the wine industry and traveling to great wine destinations.

Posted by Passaggio Wines

Chase Down Your Passion

I would like to introduce a wonderful friend of mine, Elizabeth Smith. We met on twitter and have actually met in person a couple of times when she has visited wine country. She is known on twitter as @cestbeth and on facebook as Elizabeth Smith and Traveling Wine Chicks. Elizabeth has so graciously shared her passion with me. Read what she has to say...



Chase down your passion like it's the last bus of the night. ~Terri Guillemets

I fell in love with the French language in high school, yet I failed to see it as one of my passions until after my sophomore year in college. I began college as a political science major, then I became a computer science major, but I was always minoring in French. One day it dawned on me, "French is my calling." I talked to my parents, crying, as I told them I wanted to major in French. They supported my decision and gave me their blessing.


Between my junior and senior years, my dream of studying in France came true. I spent a summer in Paris, the Loire Valley, and studying at the University of Provence in Aix-en-Provence. From that sprang my second passion, traveling.


I continued my studies in French and language education through the doctoral level and have taught both French and Spanish at a Virginia community college since 1989. I met my boyfriend in 1997 and am in my fourteenth year of commuting to and from Yonkers, NY and around the world. In 2008, a virtual frequent flier friend of mine saw my love and gift for travel, and decided to take a chance on hiring me as his company's travel manager. From this, my part-time travel company, C'est Beth, was born. I also began blogging about travel and subsequently created a Twitter and Facebook presence for my new business. This year I took the next step and became an independent travel agent with Montrose Travel's home-based travel agent division.


Wherever your passion lies, seize it and live it now, for all we really have is today.

Posted by Passaggio wines