Are you a believer in signs? Signs from the Universe, signs from God, signs that encourage you to keep moving forward, or signs that reassure you that you’re on the right path. What do these signs often look like for you? Do they appear seemingly out of nowhere or do they appear to you quite often, taking different forms? I have always been a big believer in Universal signs but in the past I’ve been caught in the trap of waiting for signs to appear before taking action. You’ve heard the phrase “I’ll take that as a sign”, but how often do we truly acknowledge the presence of a sign when it appears before us?
As some of you may know, I am a huge fan of playing disc golf. For those of you that don’t know what disc golf is, it’s become wildly popular since Covid, and essentially follows the same rules as golf, but replace the hole with a basket, and replace the golf ball with a frisbee (disc). Since moving to Charlotte from Iowa, I’ve become immersed in the sport, finding myself out in the woods throwing plastic discs in the majority of my free time. I love that you get to connect with nature while also being active and enjoying the company of like minded people.
As some of you may not know, I’ve recently undergone a major shift in my life and have become obsessed with mastering the skills of self-discipline, self-restraint, gaining knowledge, and sharpening my current skill set. I’m undergoing a mental transformation. I can’t say that it’s been easy so far, but knowing that by honing in on these skills and creating discipline in my life I will be successful in the long run keeps me going. I try not to look for outside motivation as I know that motivation is often misleading and misrepresented by mainstream media. I motivate myself, every day and do my best to motivate others through my actions. I say all of this to give you a background on where I’m currently at but also to tell you about some recent events that I’ve found very interesting.
What do you think of when you see a Cardinal? I think of my Great Grandma Fern who loved Cardinals and trust me if you saw her apartment or her sweater collection, you’d know it was her favorite bird. I also think of one of my childhood best friends who passed in a tragic accident a few years back. I often see these birds on the disc golf course, and my friend Ross was an exceptional disc golfer on his way to go professional. I always acknowledge their presence when I see them and try to take a moment of gratitude that I’m still here on this beautiful earth and am healthy and well.
Ever since I decided to make this mental shift in my life, I’ve been bombarded with signs to keep going, but at the time I didn’t know what these signs meant. Every single time I have gone disc golfing since I made this shift, I have came across a turtle! Just a random turtle in the woods minding his business, being cute and shit. I stop to appreciate these little guys and have gotten a few pictures and videos as evidence. See below.
I mentioned this to my girlfriend and she said “maybe they’re your spirit animal!”. I always thought my spirit animal would be something a little more fierce but a turtle is a noble symbol! How I took these signs are that although my progress may feel slow, I will eventually get to where I want to go! I need to keep chugging along. Everyone’s heard the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, well in this case I definitely identify with the tortoise! I am taking the signs that the Universe throws at me in stride and I am even more invested in my journey of self-transformation.
What I hope you can take from this rambling of turtles in the woods, symbols, and signs is that signs come to us all in mysterious ways. Everyone attaches different meanings to things and that by having faith and taking a moment to acknowledge and appreciate these signs, we are letting the Universe know that we are listening to what it’s trying to tell us. Keep going, no matter how long the journey may seem or how slow the progress feels and remember, the tortoise won the race.