My first life redesign came at an early age. When, as a feisty and disruptive 18 year old, I left home with little more than a bag of clothes, a hairdryer and a tonne of stubbornness.
I soon learnt that as long as I kept running away from my frustrations (and my parent’s rules) I was not going to arrive anywhere.
In fact running from my dissatisfaction, without a clear direction, was generating a whole new set of problems for me.
After weeks of couch surfing, and over staying my welcomes, I was fast running out of options.
I arrived on the doorstep of my Aunt with no money, no job and no plans.
I was frustrated, angry and disappointed, and refusing to take responsibility for my choices and see a way forward.
I was prepared for a lecture; the ‘go home and do the right thing, wait until your older’ talk, and I was equally prepared to put up a fight.
To my surprise my Aunt sat me down and asked me what it was I most wanted.
“I want to leave home and have no rules,” was my simple answer.
“You’ve done that,” she said “and you’re miserable.”
“What is it you want to create, to have and to experience? What is the life you dream of?”
Designing a life you love begins with knowing what you want.
Over the next few days, sitting around her kitchen table, I began to write down all the things I wanted for my young self.
I imagined anything to be possible and finally accepted that it would take hard work and dedication to turn my big dreams into reality.
My focus and energy shifted. I quit whining and complaining about what I did not want and wrote a plan go after what I did.
My wild, stubbornness slowly channelled into a fierce determination.
My overall goal; to achieve independence and take really good care of myself.
Within a week I found a job, a room to board and started a savings plan for a car.
Discontent may get you moving, it’s your dreams, wishes and intentions that will support your journey forward.
I have since believed we all have the power to choose, and change, the direction of our lives.
I am continually re-assessing where I am headed and importantly how good I am feeling along the way.
My relationship to goal setting and planning has been a positive one….a way to take dreams and ideas into reality.
This is not the case for everyone.
You may cringe at the thought of setting goals.
Goal setting can conjure up feelings of confinement and control.
Maybe goals were a work requirement, an obligation, a ‘have to do’ you would rather not do.
Quite often the language around goal setting can seem hard and heavy.
So change it….. Maybe you prefer to have dreams, wishes, aspirations, desires, visions, aims, intentions, actions?
Choose a word, one that resonates with you.
Having the right word is not important, to be leading a life you love is what matters most.
That is my wish for you, to be actively creating a life you love.
So let me ask you; Where is your life headed?
What are you navigating toward?
You can choose.
Begin to dream; please start today.
Believe in yourself; imagine anything is possible.
Make plans; expansive ones that open you up and set you free.
Write them down; make them real.
Prepare to work hard; determination thrives on passionate dreams.
Set some intentions, some goals; a life without them lacks direction.
This is your one great life, you can run from unhappiness, you can languish in discontent or you can move toward your dreams.
It’s up to you!
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