Greetings and Salutations, Blog Readers!

Today we will be discussing something I often see online, unhelpful little pseudo inspiring graphics with free use pictures from Pixalbay. 

“If your circle of friends doesn’t inspire you, it isn’t a circle, it’s a cage.”

Let that sink in, read it back again. 

If your circle of friends doesn’t inspire you, it isn’t a circle, it’s a cage.

The more I saw this expression, oftentimes shared by various self help guru’s bloggers, and people going through friend breakups, and the more I saw it, the more it made me think. 

Did I have a circle, or did I have a cage?

Well, either way, it isn’t very large, and therefore isn’t hard to judge, and adjust, if needed. I have many people I am friendly with, who I will support and love, but in terms of close friends who I not only invite over for every holiday, but the friends I talk to and make an effort to see. The friends I will fight for. The friends that would make up the circle, or the cage. 

Now, when you look at your own circle, it likely includes your partner, roommate, anyone in your house, because even if you aren’t close,  they are a part of your circle, and they can inspire you or hold you back. You also look at your best friends, your closest allies, the people you spend the most time and energy on. Even if they live far away, if you spend time on them, in some capacity keeping up with and in touch with friends, counts as time and energy. 

I started looking around, and realized my circle was fairly small, which is a cool thing, and, by in large, is not a cage. 

Sure, a wall or two could be seen as caging, as there are some weaker points in the circle that aren’t so inspiring, but, by in large people in my circle are rather inspiring. 

I have people who keep me going through their own actions, or words, motivate me, and I have others who do this but also inspire me by just asking the tough questions. 

I have friends like Lenyn, who has dreams bigger than himself, all involving theatre, who, despite the dream being wildly unrealistic, he not only pursues it, he makes the choices and efforts to pursue it. Sure, some of his dreams may be lofty, ones involving being the youngest to do something can always cause other people unease, worried if they will make it, but I know that doesn’t stop Lenyn. Even if he knows he may not be the youngest to do something, he has every intention of achieving every award on his wish list, and putting on shows that change the art world. He wants to own theaters and a theatre company, and his dreams are far from small. 

Or Amanda, who can hustle and grind in a way that makes most “hustlers” jealous. She never runs out of energy and kicks ass doing it. I firmly believe there will one day be the restaurant “@Amanda’s”.

I also have friends, like I mentioned, who not only do all of this, kicking ass, hustling, being badass and crushing life, while also dreaming big and pursuing their dreams, but who ALSO inspire others to do impossible things.

Like Amber. My best friend. Amber inspires me in everyday ways, like to just be a good, kind person, but, she also inspires me to be awesome. 
You see, Amber doesn’t let you sit and TALK about your dreams, she asks the hard questions about you actually chasing them. 

Recently, this point was made clear to me when she had come over for a social distancing hang out, in the brief window we were socializing within pods, because obviously Amber is in my pod of people I will risk Covid for. I was telling Amber all about how much I would like to have my business, not the writing and production, but a side business, at a little cafe that sold coffee, tea, cakes, maybe some savory items like breads, pizzas, etc.

Preferably, with everything infused. Pastries, teas, coffees, maybe some dinner options some evenings if I stay open that late…just a really chill spot with amazing food, most of which is, ideally, infused in some manner or another. 

So there I am, telling Amber all about the dream, telling her that many of my favorite recipes, or the ones I am always crafting, are for when I one day can have this little cafe. 

“Iuno, maybe an open mic night, maybe we sell books and art too…small dispensary if laws allow? Just a nice spot, very me!” I am telling her. 
When Amber says. “Well, have you thought about opening a shop?”

I laugh, because hahahaha who has money for a store front and start up costs? I can barely break even on my monthly overhead most months. 

“What about selling little treats. They don’t even have to be infused with THC, since it’s illegal and you would want to market your treats, but you could make CBD treats, and sell those, until we legalize weed here, or you move elsewhere.”

And it hit me. I COULD easily make and sell CBD versions of my treats, and even little hand made pampering items, like soaps or body scrubs, that I may make any random day, I could also sell. 

It’s a digital age now, we can make businesses online, we can market ourselves, sell our goods, we can prep ourselves for our future business. 

All my recipes can be infused with CBD instead of THC, and then if and when THC cannabis is legal, I can have both CBD and THC options for all treats, which, for some people, CBD will always be the thing they prefer.

Hell, plenty of hard core stoners love CBD treats, or at least using CBD, so why not make wonderful treats I could later use in my little cafe, and maybe build not only the audience and brand fo the cafe, but maybe some funds for it. 

Like Two Broke Girls style, if anyone ever saw that show. I have been told by many people I have real Max Black energy, and frankly I love her style. A purple oven, selling cupcakes out of a shitty diner and shittier apartment? Fucking love it. 

So, I am in the middle of working on recipes for CBD treats, that could one day be fully infused with THC as well, to possibly sell to build up for my cafe in the future. 

Because my friend inspires the crap out of me, daily. 

I may have a very small immediate circle, but it is far from a cage. 

I also have friends like Drew who offers help, so we can help each other, with him offering to help me with some audio mixing. Inspiring friends, people who help you, and you can help, because they have dreams too. 

People like Katie who makes art everywhere she goes. Seriously she is like a little art fairy, sprinkling artistic magic all over everything she sees. 

People like Tom, who despite having a child hasn’t stopped his performance dreams nor his artistic ones, who keeps working and positioning himself for the future.

An inspiring circle. Not a cage. And for the people in my life who don’t actively inspire me, for every wall in my way, I have several inspiring circle type people who do. All in all, I am blessed with a circle, not a cage. 

I encourage you to take a good, hard, honest look at the people in your life and see if they inspire you, if they make you want to be better, or if they merely make you stay the same. 

Be inspired, you deserve it. And the world deserves the fruit of your inspiration. 

Thanks for reading!

❤️

Abbi