Are You Living Your Best Life?
Are you ready to take your first steps towards living your best life? It wasn’t that long ago that life wasn’t so sweet for me. I wasn’t always doing work that I love or living a healthy, happy and fulfilled life. Like most people, I’ve experienced struggles…
There have been times when I hit a wall and couldn’t see a way to overcome it. I felt powerless and soulless, despite achieving what success was meant to be on paper, I was ‘Living my best life’ with the materialistic trappings and trophies (the house, the car, 5-star holidays, lavish nights out, etc). But in reality, I was empty, unhappy, unhealthy and broken.
I was resigned to the fact that this was how life was meant to be for me, and to put up and shut up! I spiralled further into the depths of prolonged sadness and became a shadow of my former self; I lost my identity. I became really good at putting on a front and a fake smile when I needed to – an Oscar winning performance, if I do say so myself!
I had no idea what my purpose was, I was unfulfilled, lacked my identity and had no real direction in life. I was just going through the motions.
I stayed in unhealthy relationships that were miserable and didn’t meet my needs. I stayed in jobs that didn’t light me up. I was eating crap food and drinking way too much. Every day was Groundhog Day; work, eat, sleep, repeat, I was lying to myself about what life was supposed to look like or feel like.
Thankfully, that is well in the past for me now.
What does it really mean to ‘live your best life’?
I see many people out there, as I’m sure you do, living their ‘best lives’. But I don’t think a lot of people really understand what living your best life actually means, and what it actually entails. Sadly, so many people are out there living their so-called best lives, but they’re unhappy with themselves on the inside or the outside or with their life. And they’re still out there on Instagram using the hashtag #livingmybestlife.
Living your best life is not…
Waiting for things to happen for you
It’s not waiting for your soulmate to walk into your life. It’s not waiting for someone to give you a promotion or pay rise. It’s not waiting for your body to magically be fitter or skinnier because we know that just doesn’t happen, right?
We find ways to convince ourselves that things are just going to start happening for us without actually putting in the work.
Just living fabulously
It’s not going out and spending money, taking Instagram pictures holding cocktails or frolicking on the beach on an expensive holiday. It’s not just living fabulously and then claiming that’s your best life.
Those could be some of your best moments, and that could be really exciting for you. I encourage you to share those moments and to love them and to spoil yourself every so often. But your best life is not just spending money.
Not what you see on social media
People love to show off on social media and their best lives (yours included) is not what you see posted or what you post.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to show how great your life is, I do it sometimes too. But if that’s all you’re doing and then putting your phone down and feeling crappy about yourself or only feeling a high from posting about your so-called best life, then you’re not really living it.
Overall, living your best life, is not looking for outside sources or external validation to tell you that you are living your best life. You are the only person who can say when you’re truly living your best life because you’re the only one who knows the version of you that you want to be. You’re the only one who knows what truly makes you happy.
Living your best life
Living your best life is really learning how to step into your own control, your own power and really owning who you’re being right now in this moment. Even if you’re not the ideal person that you want to be yet, knowing that you are on your journey and working towards being that best person you were always meant to be, is how to live your best life.
It’s also important to remember that the best way to live your life is not how others tell you, your parents, partner, friends, etc. Only you know what living your best life means for you.
You could start with my 3 Golden Nuggets to help you to have a happier, healthier, and fulfilled life with a greater sense of living your best life authentically.
Golden Nuggets
1. Be ruthlessly honest with yourself
Learning how to get real and being tough on yourself when you need to be is important. But it’s also important to know when you need to be easy on yourself too. If you’re tough on yourself and have high expectations of yourself, then learning to tell yourself to take a break could be getting honest with yourself.
Being honest with yourself is the key to living life to the fullest. Being honest with yourself isn’t always easy and it requires practice, dedication and patience.
Top Tip
Ask these questions and keep a journal to check on your progress. Note down your emotions, thoughts and real reflections of your inner self. And more importantly, your behaviour, as this will be a key indicator on how you are progressing.
- What am I good at?
- What is the most important thing in my life?
- Who are the most important people in my life?
- What brings me joy?
- What relaxes me?
- What’s my definition of success?
- What type of person do I want to be?
- What do I think about myself?
- What makes me sad?
- What makes me afraid?
Repeat this process as often as you feel necessary but at least once a month.
2. Build healthy habits
The first step is to stop making excuses, especially if they are interfering with your life and preventing you from achieving more, being more, doing more and having more in your best authentic life.
Before we do ANYTHING to actually build habits, you need a really good reason as to why you want to build them in the first place, or the changes will never stick.
This whole “change who I am” stuff needs to be at the centre of your decision making moving forward.
Top Tip
EXERCISE: If you want to exercise more, set calendar alerts at the beginning of your week so that every day at 8am you receive a cue (ding! on your phone) and a reminder to do the activity. You’re much more likely to stay on target when the activity has been scheduled ahead of time.
HEALTHY EATING: Consider batch cooking! If cooking healthy meals every night sounds like way too much work, consider doing it all on one day. It’s a significant time-saver, and it will also reduce the steps between you and healthy eating, because the meal is already cooked and in the fridge!
3. Invest in yourself
When I first started reading a lot of self-help books, listening to personal development podcasts, and really starting to engage in this world of personal development and spirituality, everyone was preaching: invest in yourself.
It’s an absolute necessity to invest in yourself. You don’t have to go out and spend thousands. Even small investments, any type of energy exchange, no matter how big or small will still benefit you.
You could develop your skills with educational classes, nurture your mind and body, or explore your creative side.
Your future is in large partly determined by your willingness and ability to invest in yourself now.
Top Tip
There is a fountain of creativity within most of us that has never been tapped and hasn’t been used to its highest potential. You may need to unearth and hone your individual creativity by learning a new skill or spending time on something that brings you joy.
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- Learn a new language
- Try a cooking class
- Start writing stories or poetry
- Explore the outside world; gardening, photography or nature watching
- Play an instrument
- Get artistic with paint, pottery or jewellery
Choose an activity that you have never tried or haven’t done in years.
So, let’s summarise those Golden Nuggets again:
- Be ruthlessly honest with yourself
- Build healthy habits
- Invest in yourself
Join our FREE 5 Day Challenge “How to Live Your Greatest Life”
Are you a person who lets the world and others define you? Or are you a person with a deep, constant hunger for more? A need to do more, achieve more, and be more in your daily life than you ever thought possible? If you’re ready to forge your own path, you belong in our 5 Day Challenge – “How to Live Your Greatest Life”.
If you don’t change anything now, will you be proud of your life when you look back in 5, 10, 20 years?
The key to success in 2021 and in the years to follow lies in your hand and mind, emotions and actions. We are in for a great 5 days of self-exploration, self-discovery, learning and fun! At the end of the 5 days, you’ll have clarity, a plan, and you’ll feel motivated and empowered for your happiness and your future – To Live Your Greatest Life!
Thank you for joining me and I look forward to seeing you again next week for Pura Vida Your Life Happenings for insight, inspiration and more Golden Nuggets to help you live a happier and fulfilled life.
I invite you to come on a journey of empowerment with me – sign up to Discoveries to start taking steps to improve your life!
Or, why not become a Pura Vida Your Life Member to discover an even wider range of inspiring resources and tools?
Pura Vida Your Life – it all starts with you 🧡💙💛
Until next time – Pura Vida!