What Are You Longing For?
This is a good question to ask yourself. Especially if most days you're left feeling overwhelmed or depleted.
The very beginning of my own journey to living well began with me asking myself this very same question. I can hardly believe that it's been 15 years (Where does the time go?!), since I first began asking myself What am I longing for?
It was this very question (and others similar) that first opened my mind to the idea that I could change my life. It was the first time I began to explore self-care.
Of course, it didn't take me very long to figure out that it wasn't the external things I really wanted. What I yearned for were things like: calm; love; health; and vitality.
Calm because I felt starved for feelings of peace amongst all the adrenalized chaos that was in my life.
Love because I wanted to live a life where I was in love with myself. With life. With those in my life. And with what I do. I wanted to feel, and experience love as much as I could throughout each day.
At that time in my life, I often felt tired, and I was sick more than I wasn't. So, not surprisingly I also craved optimal health ~ not just physical health. I longed for health in every area: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
And I wanted to thrive with vitality. I wanted to wake up each morning embracing the day and feeling really good throughout it. Rather than wake up complaining that it was too early and I was too tired. I no longer wanted to drag myself through the day relying on caffeine and sugar to help me out.
I was determined to create a life where everything that I longed for would exist. What I really wanted out of life, I would have.
Fast forward to today and now what I longed for so long ago actually exists in my life. I still desire to live with calm as much as I possibly can each day and do. Learning to love myself, and continuing with this practice, has been one of the greatest gifts I've ever given myself for so many reasons. Health and vitality are of great importance me, in fact I often talk about how I strive to thrive each day.
I know that one of the reasons that I've been successful at implementing and maintaining my self-care practices is because I figured out that what I longed for, I could create within. It wasn't a relationship (I was single at the time) that I desired. It wasn't a new car, a bigger home, more money, or some other external thing that I was searching for.
What I truly desired, I was able to find within myself. Of course, it's been a journey that continues to this day. I know that self-care is a part of my life journey. It's something that's with me everyday and always will be.
What I fill myself up with matters. Learning how to care for myself and then doing it consistently is how I've been able to create the life I longed for. Not surprisingly, what I've manifested on the outside because of my internal changes has been pretty fabulous too.
In a world where most of you can have most of what you want externally, how do you really feel about your life? Are you truly happy? What is it that you're really longing for?
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Looking for more tips to help you live well? Check out Your Live Well Journey - The Podcast, every episode offers ways to help you improve your self-care.
