Today I Choose to be Ascending – How to be Ascending

Ascending sounds dramatic—like soaring into the clouds or climbing a mountain. But in my experience, ascending rarely feels grand in the moment. More often, it feels like small, steady lifts that add up until one day you realize: you’re no longer where you used to be.

I’ve felt that most clearly through the journey of creating Enlightenzz.

In the beginning, I was fumbling with WordPress plugins at 2 AM, completely baffled by SEO, and wondering if I was out of my depth. Every “Publish” button clicked felt like a shaky step onto a higher rung. The progress was so incremental, I barely noticed it. Some nights I’d stare at the screen thinking, “What am I doing? I’m 60 years old trying to build a website like I’m some tech-savvy millennial.”

My shoulders would creep up with tension. My jaw would clench. I’d have seventeen tabs open trying to understand what a “meta description” was.

The Invisible Elevation

For months, it felt like I was standing still. Writing posts that maybe twelve people read (half of them Curtis, checking multiple times to boost my stats—bless him). Learning Canva by watching the same YouTube tutorial four times. Getting excited about 50 page views.

Then one random Tuesday, I looked around and realized I had risen.

Writing came more naturally—I wasn’t second-guessing every sentence. Designing in Canva didn’t intimidate me; I was creating graphics while my coffee brewed. I was fielding conversations about passive income, publishing, and growth in ways I wouldn’t have dared just a year earlier.

Someone asked me for advice about starting a blog. Me. The woman who didn’t know what a widget was twelve months ago.

The Truth About Rising

That’s the thing about ascending—it doesn’t usually feel like flight. It feels like:

• Googling the same question six times until it finally clicks
• Publishing imperfect posts because done is better than perfect
• Celebrating tiny wins (my first comment that wasn’t spam!)
• Failing at something new every week and trying again
• Reading your old work and cringing, which means you’ve grown

It feels like persistence. It feels like showing up for the small steps again and again until you suddenly see the view from higher ground.

The Ascending That Nobody Sees

We’re all ascending in ways we don’t recognize. Maybe you’re:

• Setting boundaries after a lifetime of people-pleasing (one “no” = elevation)
• Learning technology that terrifies you (every password remembered = rising)
• Healing from something you thought would break you (each day = altitude)
• Starting over at an age when you thought you’d be settled (courage = climbing)

You probably don’t feel like you’re ascending. You feel like you’re stumbling, struggling, barely keeping up. That’s what ascending actually feels like in real-time.

My Current Ascent

Right now, I’m ascending toward understanding book publishing. It’s the same fumbling, frustrating, incremental climb. Yesterday I spent three hours trying to understand ISBN numbers. My brain hurt. I ate cookies for dinner.

But I know something now that I didn’t know during the Enlightenzz climb: This confusion is temporary. This frustration is part of ascending. Six months from now, I’ll be casually discussing print-on-demand and distribution channels like I know what I’m talking about.

Because that’s how ascending works. Not in dramatic leaps but in tiny, almost invisible elevations.

Your Ascending Moment

Look back at where you were a year ago. Five years ago. Even six months ago.

What can you do now that you couldn’t then?
What scares you less?
What knowledge sits so naturally in your brain you forgot you had to learn it?
What view do you have now that you couldn’t see from where you started?

That’s ascending. You’re doing it right now, even if it just feels like another Tuesday of trying to figure things out.

The Secret Nobody Tells You

Ascending isn’t about dramatic leaps or once-in-a-lifetime breakthroughs. It’s about showing up consistently for the small, ordinary steps that slowly lift you higher. You don’t always notice the elevation while you’re in it, but one day you look back and realize you’re standing on new ground.

If you want to ascend, focus less on giant leaps and more on the steady habits that quietly change your altitude. Click one more “Publish” button. Learn one more thing that scares you. Take one more shaky step.

Trust me—from someone who went from “what’s a plugin?” to running a website—those shaky steps add up to something that looks a lot like flying.

Even if you’re eating cookies for dinner while you figure it out.