I love fantasy.
Sometime in my teens, the part of me that wanted to be all grown up decided it was childish, and I lost touch with it for many years.
Then one day in my 40s I picked up a Harry Potter book. And it reignited something in me that I'd all but forgotten.
Since then, I've read stacks of Star Wars novels, Narnia, even fantasy series you've probably never heard of. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I tore through Fourth Wing and ACOTAR after one of Kisma's friends told me I just had to. Honestly, I loved them.
But there is one that sits above all else for me, and that's The Lord of the Rings.
The Three Hours You Never Saw
Did you know that Peter Jackson had to cut over 3 hours from the Lord of the Rings trilogy?
Three. Hours.
Of rich lore, timeless characters, and moments that made you feel not like you were just a fan of Middle Earth—rooting for the triumph of good from the sidelines—but that you were PART of it.
The theatrical versions were good—they had to be for mass audiences. But the extended editions?
Those were masterpieces.
The real fans will watch every single minute of those extended cuts, over and over. They want the whole story, not the sanitized version.
The Theatrical Cut of Your Life
And it made me wonder...
Have you been showing people the theatrical cut of your Soul?
The polished version. The socially acceptable edit.
All the messy, beautiful, complicated parts left on the cutting room floor.
For the longest time, I wrote and spoke from the standpoint of the teacher. Polished. Clever. Neatly wrapped to be inoffensive. Unobtrusive. In other words...
Boring.
I thought that's what people wanted—the clean, professional version of my "wisdom."
No rough edges. No contradictions. No admissions that I'm still figuring it out as I go.
It's boring me just thinking about it. And stressing me out.
What Happened When I Stopped Editing
When I stopped doing that and started sharing what's really in my heart, I lost some subscribers.
But I gained many more fellow travelers.
And I learned something profound about myself.
I'm not looking for followers. I'm looking for those daring souls willing to walk the path with me.
Because the people who matter—your real fans, your true friends, your Soul family—they don't want your theatrical cut. They want the extended version. All of it.
The parts where you struggle. The scenes where you don't have it figured out. The moments when you're heartbreakingly human.
Because that's where the magic lives. Not the magic of fantasy. The real magic of human connection, love, fear, and everything that lies in between. An experience so vast, and yet so personal that it defies both logic and description.
The magic that only YOU can bring to the world. It’s more real than you know.
The Self-Love Paradox Nobody Talks About
Here's the self-love paradox nobody talks about: You can't love a version of yourself that doesn't actually exist. Anyone who has ever been in a relationship with someone because you could see their potential, despite all the red flags— you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. You either love them as they are, or not at all.
Because when you keep editing out the "imperfect" parts, you end up loving a character you're playing, not the person you actually are.
Every part of you is part of the whole. The shadow scenes, the deleted moments, the B-roll footage of your ordinary Tuesday—it's all part of your epic story.
And if you just keep cutting away the parts you don't like—or that don't seem to fit with the "perfect" version of you—you'll wind up with nothing left. A hollow paper cutout of perfection, with everything you were born to be lying on the cutting room floor.
Your Real Work
Your real work isn't editing yourself into acceptability.
It's loving yourself into wholeness.
The gate to self-love opens only when you have the fundamental Self Respect to bring ALL of yourself to the door.
Your dreams and your fears. Your strengths and your struggles. Your wisdom and your confusion. Your light and your shadow.
All of it belongs. All of it is welcome. All of it is part of the magnificent, complicated, beautifully human story that is uniquely yours.
The People Who Want Your Extended Cut
The people who only want your theatrical cut? They're not your people. Your real fellowship is waiting for the director's commentary version of your Soul.
They want to see the deleted scenes. They want to hear about the mistakes that didn't make the final edit. They want to witness your full range of human experience, not just the highlight reel.
What part of your "extended cut" are you keeping hidden?
And more importantly…
Are you ready to start loving yourself into wholeness? And STOP editing out the best parts of who you are?
Because if you are, check out The Complete Self-Love System.
All of you is welcome here,
Nick
The Mystic Next Door
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