I’m on the phone with Organizing Consultant and Teacher Elsa Jewett (shown at left) of All In Good Order as she describes the beautiful backdrop of Chautauqa Park in Boulder, Co where she is surrounded by glowing red, gray and brown jagged (and gigantic) rocks that are simply breathtaking to gaze upon. I’m waiting to start a phone interview with Elsa for ‘I Dream’ Stories on PPnG but I get lost in her description of the surrounding Pine and Aspen trees, the mountain range and how she’s looking at one of the most magnificent views in the world.

I am curious about Elsa’s life long dream, her efforts to pursue it, how she has worked through her fears and challenges and what advice she would give to other dreamers on the same path.

Here’s Elsa:

My dream has taken me in a lot of different directions. For one, my purpose is to teach organizing and following that dream is now evolving into teaching other organizers in a particular way; in a Feng Shui way.  That means teaching others to align themselves first and foremost with a healthy lifestyle; getting appropriate rest and sleep, maintaining a healthy diet and balancing our culture’s chaotic way of life through things like exercise, meditation and/or yoga.  It’s about deciding what is right for your body and going within to find it. It’s also about balancing work and play time, even though many of us following our dreams feel like work is fun. There is an important distinction between the two and knowing when to stop and start again is one of the things I teach.

I’ve been living my dream of organizing since I was a child.  In the early part of my life, it felt therapeutic to organize my room and my closet over and over again on a daily basis. In middle school, I’d sometimes stay up to 4:00 am re-organizing my closet (that I had just organized the night before.)  I found serenity in my bedroom and in my own space in a home that I felt was chaotic.

Seven years ago I started my business as an Organizing Consultant. Prior to that, I knew I wanted to work for myself but at the time the idea seemed impossible. The first person I told my dream to was my life coach who told me to ‘just do it.’ As soon as I heard that, something inside of me clicked and I knew I was on the right path.  That evening after I got off the phone, I formed my business, All In Good Order.

The biggest obstacle to my dream has been my own mind and happens when I get into my own fears. I have learned how to work through those fears. For example, I have had a fear that sounds like this: “My business will start dwindling around a certain time of year.” Then my mind follows up with questions like, “What’s going on here?”  I’ll then tailspin and that thought manifests into a negative reality. Now, when business starts to slow down or a client calls to cancel an appointment, I change the scarcity mind set thought of “Oh my God, how is this going to impact me?” to “This is what this person needed to do and it may not be the right time for us to work together.” That thought transforms the fear I have into a gift I’m giving them.  And I’m honoring both myself and my client in the process.

I tend to be a high anxiety person. I used to feel very anxious and overburdened when I had too much on my plate. That pattern would show up over and over again and I would push myself until I burned out. Not anymore. The key is how to manage our time in a healthy way. Now, when I start to feel overwhelmed with my life, instead of saying, ‘Oh God I’ve got so much on my plate’ which leads to an increase in my anxiety levels, I say to myself, ‘Okay there is a lot on my plate right now and energetically I need to be bigger, which means no drama.’ If I have too much going on, then it might be time to go within myself, set external limits and then trust that all will be well. And it always is. That shift in my mental process is how I take care of myself and calm down. It’s important to handle things positively.

What advice would I give others following their dreams? Never give up no matter how many people are telling you to just get a ‘regular job.’ If what you want is your dream, just stick to it. If everything feels like it’s caving in on you, go to a chair, turn everything off and just wait in silence until you have the answer because you always have the answer. It may take time but it will come.