How you see your life will affect your decision to move forward or stay where you are.
Witness your life. Do you feel ready for change? Do you feel the need to move on from where you are? Are you hesitant to make that change? Why?
Fear?
We’ve discussed how judgment of where you are can stop you from moving forward. Fighting the fear of change is a battle many wage every day.
I’d like to add to your tool kit.
It is important to understand whether or not you are resisting change because you are afraid of moving on or because you are afraid of admitting that you like the life you have. Getting caught in the “not good enough” cycle can trick you into you changing your life for change’s sake.
Building your best life requires not only leaving behind that which you don’t want, but bringing with you the best of what you have. Let’s not “throw the baby out with the bath water” as the cliché goes. Here’s how to change the one thing that can help you do that.
Here’s how to change your perspective…
- Life Crafting – This exercise comes from the practice of Job Crafting. Decide what is your life purpose. It is not a final answer. This is just the beginning. You can hone your purpose as you go. The trick is to create a higher purpose. By connecting your purpose to something outside of you, you add more value to your work. Simply put, do it for more than just you. Then, comb your life and begin picking out the tasks and relationships that further your purpose. This is a lesson of focus, not a clearcutting of jobs and people in your life. Give attention to how and where you can use your daily routine, tasks, and interaction to further the greater purpose in your life. Give them extra attention and meaning. It will bring more meaning into the life you are living and help you realize what you’d like to create more room for in your life in the future.
- Decide to Love Your Life – As a married person, I was once told that marriage goes beyond falling in love with someone. You must then decide to love them. Falling in and out of love with someone is as fickle as hormones and sleep cycles. It is a passive thing. We are at love’s mercy and must go on the ride. But deciding to love someone means we actively take a role in loving another. We do the work of caring for someone with our time and our actions. Decide to love your life. Don’t expect to feel over the moon with it every second of every day. Actively love your life by honouring your purpose, recognizing your value, acknowledging the importance of your individuality, and relishing the best of your story.
- Take care of your life – I’m a big fan of cleaning my own home, taking care of my own garden, and making my own food. I’ve purposely chosen a simple enough life so that I have the time to care for my own things (with my family’s help of course). By holding your things, cleaning them, and caring for them you add the value of time invested. You are reminded of the connection you have with it. You can’t expect your life to have meaning when you don’t have a minute to spend reflecting on your purpose. It takes time to groom your life to suit your needs. It takes some energy to create a culture of love and support around yourself. Care for your life by reflecting on your choices and how they got you to this point – shine up those proud moments, dust off those hard choices, and throw out the garbage that is cluttering up your purpose. Ultimately, you should care about you. Your voice is important.
Seeing the best of your life in this light will help you decide what to save before life’s changes come your way. Whether or not these words rumble the ground under your feet or just send a breeze through your mind, I hope they inspire a shift. We have an opportunity every day to build our life and tell the story we want to call our own.
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