Do you long for a lifestyle that feels authentic to you?
Do you know what the number one thing my coaching clients say they want? It’s the thing that’s underneath everything else. It’s just two words… authentic lifestyle.
When they tell me about some parts of their current life, maybe their work, their relationship, where they live, they say:
“My heart isn’t in it.”
“I don’t know exactly what I want but I know it isn’t this.”
“I want to do something that feels more meaningful to me.”
They want to be focusing on building a life that comes from the heart and soul, that lights them up. A life they would climb mountains for.
The dictionary definition of authentic is: not false or copied; genuine; real. Lifestyle isn’t about aspiration, it’s about inspiration. Not the perfect ways we're supposed to look or stuff we should own but rather, how each of the pieces of your life fit together and feel good - like the pieces of your personal jigsaw. So they genuinely work for your personality and what you feel you have been called to bring to the world.
It’s not just about what you do for work, it’s about how you work too and how that fits in with what you desire for the rest of your life. So, your lifestyle feels authentically you.
The truth is that it can feel painful to get a wake up call but it’s even more painful to ignore it.
The truth is that it can feel easy to take the path of least resistance but I know you know that life is short. You might have heard about palliative nurse Bronnie Ware who recorded the top five regrets of the dying, number one was, "I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
So are you a bold soul, are you ready, to go on you own hero’s journey and wake up, take the call, fight the dragons? Do what you need to do to allow the world to receive your talents, your ideas and your light?
Believe me, there’s no ideal time. Nobody has all the resources they need. It’s about working with your actual life. I know you need to make money, maybe care for your children, maybe finish a work contract. You will have real things you need to take care of, compromises that will have to be made.
It might be authentic for you to give up your day job and live in a caravan wandering the globe but it might be equally authentic for you to build a little business on the side or write a novel on the weekends.
Sometimes it’s appropriate to leap and sometimes it’s better to take tiny steps.
It’s about working with real fears, obstacles and practicalities. I know life has been really tough in certain ways. I know you might feel super sensitive and I know you doubt. But still let’s take your dreams out of the cupboard and get you in that arena, living your authentic lifestyle.
“When we spend our lives waiting until we’re perfect or bulletproof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable, we squander our precious time, and we turn our backs on our gifts, those unique contributions that only we can make.” - Brené Brown.