If you would’ve told me that I’d be a mostly vegan, yoga teacher, endurance athlete, writer and speaker, 20 years ago, I would’ve called you crazy. Nonetheless, here I am. I was out on my run this morning thinking about how I got here and how you can get to some place you’d like to be. Actually, where you’d LOVE to be, how about that?! My goal is to be fulfilled on a regular basis. I know life is going to throw us the unexpected, but if I have anything to do with it, the highlight reel is going to be awesome! I love where I am now and I’m always looking to explore other worlds, cultures, and mountains, inside my own being and outside my own neighborhood. I’ve been able to create a pretty awesome life for myself and I know that many people consider themselves victims of circumstance.
This post is all about a few ways to: a. begin thinking about how you can stop being the victim of circumstance; and b. start creating a life you never dreamed possible. Ready or not, here we go!
Understand Your Inner World
The first step is understanding your own inner world. That’s where the answers are going to come from. What makes you tick? And how did you get to where you are today? I know there are a lot of things that may have gotten in your way, but you made some choices along the path and now is the time to take full responsibility for your actions. Once you begin to see that you are responsible, even if it’s just a little bit, then you can see how you have the option to change the course.
Meditate
I recommend spending some time in meditation, then doing a quick writing exercise about the 5-10 things, big things, that got you to where you are in your life. Then ask yourself, could you have made different choices or were these events/circumstances destiny? An example would be college. Did you go to college or not? Which school? If you chose a different school would you be having a different life? I use different because we don’t know what is better, we only know what is and our perception of what is. Sometimes our mind tends to believe the grass is greener on the other side, but the truth is that the grass is greener where it’s watered.
Create Your New Life
Once you took some inventory, then the good part happens. You begin to create your new path. What do you want your life to be? Remember, the world is your oyster. You can travel to new places, meet new people, make a load of money, have an amazing, successful thriving relationship, and oh so much more. There is no wrong answer here, the idea is to see where your mind takes you. An example of my annual planning is to look at both travel schedule with my family and races I want to participate in.
This year I’m climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro the first week of July and doing the Mont Tremblant Ironman on August 19. That means I’ll have to train accordingly. My wife and I want to take our little one to Portland for a vacation. We’re also speaking at a few Wellness conferences and we like to visit family. A lot for one year of events and travel. That’s besides all the holidays like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays, Christmas, etc.
What’s important to understand, and this is part of your exercise, is that you can create a life around a specific event/goal. I’ve done it around big races, vacations, etc. It’s really easy when you print out each month of the year and start plugging things in. Ok, go do it now! Remember, you’re creating your unique life. You are unique. There is no one who will ever be you again. And no one who will ever have the same perception about experience, let alone the same actual experience as you. So, if that’s the case, let your imagination flow!
Go After It!
Finally, it’s time to see how much of your amazing plan you can implement. This is where we have to let life’s unexpected plans get in the way. We have to change course sometimes and roll with the punches, but the more you can learn how to do that, the better off you’ll be. I recommend setting some goals and shooting to achieve at least 50% of them. That will give you some wins and boost your confidence to keep going and continue creating that life you know you were meant to live. If you’re not a regular meditator, start here. And if you need a helping hand, I’m always here to help.
Originally published on the author’s website.