The Courage To Change and Live Your Life to the Fullest
What is the secret to living a life with energy, vigor, excitement, and fulfillment? Is there a way to feel deeply connected to life while balancing everything and not getting burned out in the process? I find that variety and change keep my life interesting while pushing me to improve myself.
Building a career and life takes most of our time. I need excitement, ever-changing surroundings, and the ability to grow and learn valuable things to help others constantly. I like to push myself to new levels and improve my skills. I find joy in pushing my comfort level, yet I have had to learn how to do it without becoming overburdened and the pleasure being stripped from the work I do in the world.
I have worked with many career professionals and have found that, like me, they seek the thrill of learning, reaching for higher achievement, and always trying to excel in the things they do. Unfortunately, they, like me, have allowed their lives to become less than thrilling without being able to enjoy their life fully. In short, it is essential to find the right work-life balance.
We need to ask ourselves if we wake up feeling inspired, encouraged, supported, and full of hope for how we spend our time. Luckily, I now can answer yes to this question, but it was not always like this.
My career aspirations and lifestyle choices in the past have led me down a long winding path of overwhelm, anxiety, stress, depression, and despair. Although I achieved many of my goals, my life was missing the things that mattered most: quality time, connection with others, and peace and contentment.
Change requires a look at how you spend the time doing the things that matter most to you. As a recovered alcoholic, I had to realize that my life was unmanageable. I had to take a deep look into not only my health but my relationships.
The transitions we go through in life define us. Our ability to accept and navigate these moments will determine whether we can grow into our most significant potential.
We all must learn how to balance our life, family, social, and career goals. The most challenging lesson for many of us is the unwillingness to change our circumstances because we believe we have to stay the same.
Deciding to change anything in life can challenge us, and the uncertainty in most cases keeps people stagnant. Whether you want to overcome a health condition, weight loss, family problems, a career transition, or an important life choice, the commitment requires taking a giant leap.
The fear of the unknown and the possibility of failure seem bigger when making big life decisions. Is the risk worth it? Will the change give me the things that I want and need? Am I willing to commit to the process and do the things that push me physically, mentally, and spiritually?
The challenge and risk of change is sometimes the exact thing we need to feel vigor, excitement, and a renewed sense of purpose in life. The stimulus of change, when taken seriously and with commitment, sparks creativity, focus, and the fortitude to do the next step to achieve the things that matter.
Many of us are looking for an easier way to solve our problems. To make things more confusing, we get caught up in the idea that others hold the key to fixing all our problems. This leads us to search endlessly and to jump from one solution to the next. The only thing holding you back from finding the answers is your serious willingness to accept that you are not happy where you are, or that you want to achieve more, and the commitment to and follow through with the things you know you need to do to get where you want to go.
Although there are many solutions, and we spend our time searching for help, we might lack follow-through and commitment with a more honest look. The service we require is not finding someone to give us all the answers, but the accountability, encouragement, and support to help us stick to what we know we need to do.
To achieve the things that are important to us requires a change in the way we spend our time. We need to find people who support us, healthy environments, and a lifestyle that matches the entirety of the goal we are trying to achieve.
Until we are ready to stand courageously in our beliefs, set healthy boundaries, and live by our values, will we be able to build our self-esteem, feel inspired and supported by those we choose to spend our time with?
What if we viewed change as an essential piece to our growth? What if this was the exact thing you needed to overcome the feeling of being stuck, bored, burned out, and even overwhelmed with your life? What if regular change gave you the excitement, energy, and drive to feel like your life was meaningful?
If you looked at your life honestly, what would you want to change? If you could change something about yourself, your current situation, work, relationships, or living conditions, even if you didn’t think it was possible? What would make you believe you were living a life with meaning, purpose and that you were being fulfilled?
Sometimes we forget to ask these questions, and if it is difficult to answer, perhaps you are not taking the time to truly reflect on how you are living and if what you are doing with your life is leaving you inspired, encouraged, and fulfilled.
It is your life. Make it what you want. I encourage you to look deeper, ask yourself what change is needed to give you the life you want. The thrill of achievement, goal setting, and accomplishment is the way I choose to feel alive. What do you need?