As I write this, it’s the end of 2019. I’m currently laying in bed in a new home that I just moved into with the love of my life, expecting a baby in 2 months, in the midst of starting a new career, and so so happy. At the beginning of 2019 I didn’t have any of this.

This year has brought a major career change, new love, moving from an apartment to a home for the first time, and most of all, a new life; a tiny little girl growing in my tummy that I get to meet so soon! All of this happened because at the beginning of 2019 I decided to start manifesting the things I wanted in life.

What people don’t realize about manifesting is that it’s very simple. It takes little time, effort and costs you nothing. You don’t need to travel to some remote location in the wilderness kumbuya-ing around a fire while holding hands to let the universe know what you want (I mean, you can if you want!).

When you let go of control, ask for things that you want and stay true to yourself, life happens in ways you’d never expect.

I’ll start from the beginning of my year. I was 27-years-old and hit a point in my life where I wasn’t sure if I was happy. I’m not the type of person that lets life pass me by and blames things on other people/situations. If I don’t like something about my life, I work hard to get where I want to be. But during this time I wasn’t quite sure what that next step was or really where I wanted to be in the future.

We get so caught up in our day to day- doing what we’re told to do and what we think is ‘right’ that we often forget what brings us joy.

In January of 2019 I finally decided to write out exactly what I wanted for myself and my future.

I wrote out realistic goals, unrealistic goals, big dreams and small. I wrote out everything, from practical to shooting for the stars type stuff. Now, looking back at that list it is honestly mind-blowing how this year unfolded.

In February 2019 I went on a trip to Costa Rica for a 7-day yoga retreat after getting my Yoga Teaching Certification the past November. It was my reward to myself for graduating and accomplishing something that I easily could have told myself I couldn’t do.

During that week in Costa Rica, I did more manifesting. I wrote more, but this time it was more detailed. I started saying these things out loud to myself as I wrote them, convinced that there was someone or something out there listening, taking notes and lining things up for my future.

I did this daily during my time in Costa Rica. I made sure I was specific, direct and honest with the things I wanted for myself. I let go of any self-doubt I had about the ‘how’s’ ‘whys’s’ and ‘what if’s’ that crept in every time my mind would try to take over.

At that time, I was working a corporate 9-5, (which was a great job, just not for me), single, living in an apartment by myself. To most, this was a great life and there were definitely aspects of it that made me super happy. But I had a different vision for myself that I wasn’t currently living.

I knew I wanted to start teaching yoga, I knew I wanted more out of my work life and eventually make a career out of something I was passionate about, and I knew I wanted to find love, eventually.

Within a month of me getting back from my trip to Costa Rica, all of these things happened with little effort at all.

The first thing that happened was teaching yoga. I found an amazing studio in Columbus that a friend took me to on a random Monday night. I instantly fell in love with this studio. It matched my teaching style and was exactly the kind of studio I envisioned myself teaching at.

At first, I told myself that I wasn’t experienced enough for this studio and would contact them in a few months or years after gaining some experience. But then there was this voice in my head that told me to just go for it. The worst that could happen is they say no, I told myself. So I walked up to the owner after class one day, introduced myself and told her how much I loved her studio and that I was looking for a teaching job. She had me come in a week later for an interview and a 10-minute try-out so she could get a feel of my teaching style. I started subbing and had my own class teaching every Tuesday morning a few weeks later.

That, without much effort, was the first thing I manifested into my life. Telling the universe what I wanted, taking a chance and ignoring the self doubt was all it took.

The second thing that happened was at work. I was still working at my corporate job but had been making steps towards creating something of my own that I was passionate about. One day I picked up a cute little book at Target that had 365 nighttime meditations for each day of the year. I decided to look up the author on Instagram because I loved her work and found out she was a career/life coach who had a very similar story; starting in corporate but realizing she wanted a different path for herself.

Later in the year, I decided to quit my job and follow my dreams. I hired that coach and am in the works of becoming a health coach specializing in digestive health, something that I struggled with and had to overcome myself. I love that I get to make a career out of helping others with the same issues (see more about that here).

The last and most exciting thing that happened to me was love. I wasn’t looking for anything serious at the time because I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay in Columbus (I was actually making plans to move across the country) but something was telling me to go on this date. It was just a date, and if it sucked it would only be a few hours of my night.

The second I got to that bar and met Jeff, everything changed. There was instant chemistry and the conversation flowed. There wasn’t an awkward moment and it sounds crazy to say but after only an hour of knowing him I was definitely falling.

After a week of meeting, we made our relationship official. We said ‘I love you’ after week two. We spent the whole month of March seeing each other every day, making future plans and talking about marriage and a family someday. And the rest is history. Most people would consider this crazy or moving too fast, but sometimes there’s no logic when it comes to love.

All of these things I simply asked the universe for and watched them unfold right in front of me.

So start making that list. Write things down that you want in your life and watch them unfold. We all have one life to live so what’s there to lose? I bet you’ll be surprised to see what happens.