3 steps to create the life you want

Sometimes, it can feel like life presents us with a hundred different paths to choose from. Is it time to get fit? Time to renovate the house? Is it time to get married? Actually, maybe it’s time to think about having kids? No, perhaps it’s better if I get that promotion first? 

Are you stuck on Someday Isle?

'Someday Isle' is a land you may have visited before. Life on Someday Isle is busy, where the time and the people move fast, despite the fact that so many important things are postponed. It’s a place that’s reported to be filled with people who have feelings of resentment, scurrying around, but getting nowhere fast. Is it a place you have visited before? 
 
"Someday, I’ll go on my dream holiday."
"Someday, I’ll have a job I love."
"Someday, I’ll be a parent."
 
Maybe you've been there? Do you have goals and dreams you’d love to achieve but never commit them to a timeframe, but talk about ‘Someday’ as if it’s a day of the week?

When you’re not sure quite where you want to be going, it can feel overwhelming.

The confusion can lead to feeling trapped and seeing no paths at all before yourself, just plodding along in our daily monotony, but feeling restless and aggravated by it all. Talking about our dreams from time to time but just continuing with our same old behaviour, keeping us where we are – on Someday Isle, postponing our dreams but growing our resentment. 

There is a quote by Don Herald, that reads: “Unhappiness is not knowing what we want, and killing ourselves to get it.” Does this resonate with you?

Below are three things you can do to begin untangling the paths before you. It will help you to prioritise what you want, and start living intentionally, in a way that supports the life you truly want to create for yourself, away from Someday Isle.

1. Visualise

Time to get comfortable and let your imagination run wild. Breathe deep, close your eyes and begin imagining yourself in the future, five years from today. 

Imagine your best possible future self when everything has gone as well as it possibly could have; you’ve achieved your goals in every part of your life; with your finances, with your physical and mental health, your relationships, your business/career, your social life, your hobbies, everything you can think of. 

See it and believe it. Visualise and feel excited by it.

2. Create

What will the date be, five years from today? Write it down on your paper. Depending on how you like to create; draw, cut pictures and words out from magazines, paint, Pinterest… make a picture that shows your happiness and success five years from today.

Put all those visualisations down onto something you can look at, something that inspires you and excites you! Put it someplace you will look daily. 

3. Believe

Believe that you can achieve your vision. Let it excite you every day. 

Every day ask yourself two things:

1. “What is one thing I can do today to move me one step closer to where I want to be?” – whatever the answer, give yourself the time to do it. 
2. “Is what I am doing today supporting this life I want to create?” – if the answer is no, it’s time to make some changes.

Know that directions and dreams are allowed to change and that’s OK. Just because you got the job you always dreamed of growing up or the car you always wanted, if you’re still feeling unfilled, that’s OK. Give yourself some more time to visualise and revisit where you want to go. 

Most importantly, paint your own picture and only ever walk to the beat of your own drum.