How To Live An Intentional Life
It’s Not Selfish To Put Yourself First
For such a long time I lived my life solely to please others. They didn’t necessarily ask me to do that, it’s just how I have always been.
Like many Millennial’s, I sought my parent’s approval and praise for the choices I made. Particularly because I felt like I let them down when I got married at 18 and had my daughter shortly after. They never told me that, it was just a story I made up in my head.
I wanted to be the best I could possibly be. It didn’t matter that they adored my daughter and loved my husband as a son.
Add to me trying to make my parents proud, I was also trying to please my husband, daughter, friends and society.
I was a total anxiety mess, who seemed happy on the outside but was so lost.
If this resonates with you, I want to talk to you about the concept of intentional living.
What Is Intentional Living?
Living for yourself and deciding how to live your life, instead of letting life happen to you. It’s deciding what your values and beliefs are and making sure everything you do is aligned with your highest self.
For me, this meant really listening to myself and getting back in touch with what made me feel happy and fulfilled. I realized while I didn’t hate what I was doing most days in my corporate job, I despised the politics, employee reviews and lack of flexibility to set my own hours.
I wanted to spend my time with my daughter, husband and even my dog on my own terms. I so resented having to be forced to be in the office or online on days when it was so slow. So I came to the conclusion that I need to work for myself. But to figure out where to start, I needed to get more in touch with myself.
Find Your Passion
If you were a people pleaser like me for decades, chances are you feel like you want to make a change, but have no idea what would make you happy. Here are some questions I found helpful when considering what I wanted to do next:
What are your five favorite things to do?
If you won the lottery and didn’t need to work, what would you spend your time doing?
What are your top 5 priorities (be honest here, don’t write what you think they SHOULD be)
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Take Action
Once you get in touch with your passion, you have an idea of where you want to go. Compare where you are now with what you are passionate about. Is there a disconnect?
Make a commitment to yourself to start working on ways to incorporate the things you love into your life.
Start small. What’s one thing you can do today?
If you make one change every single day to bring more intention into your life, you will make massive changes over time.