When you’re at a stand-still, it can be intimidating to just pick a direction and start moving forward. If you’re anything like me, that intimidation can be paralyzing. Instead of jumping into big changes, we can start with three steps to finding our own direction.
When our path forward starts with self-analysis and healthy goals, we find ourselves growing and changing naturally. Life should be about more than just getting through, right?
Finding Contentment Means Prioritizing These Three Things
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that contentment means things will stay the same forever. If I’ve learned anything from this journey, it’s that contentment is MORE about expecting and engaging in the process of change.
These three steps in a path of self-growth and analysis are key to embracing changes in ourselves and the lives we live.
Our Mindset
Chances are, we already have some great perspective and experiences to draw from. That’s what’s gotten us this far. If our minds were a house, we’d say it has “good bones.”
However, even a house with “good bones” needs maintenance and updates. That’s why we should start with a mindset renovation. Read: not a demolition.
We should always start with our mindset when we begin a journey of self-discovery. If we don’t have the right thoughts behind our actions, we can end up in an unhealthy, unproductive place.
Using our past experiences (both positive and negative) is an important part of making realistic, healthy changes to our thinking and behavior. We can’t become a brand new person overnight and leave everything in the past. We work with what we’ve got and add to it as we go.
The start of this process requires us to focus on what motivates us and how to achieve success:
Practicing Healthy Goal Setting
Our Finances
Have you ever noticed how much our finances impact our emotions, outlook, and decision-making? The second step in the lifestyle reset requires us to really examine our financial situation.
There are plenty of events and circumstances that we can’t control. Our interactions with money however, are not one of those things. We get to choose how we want to think about, use, and communicate with others about money.
It’s so incredibly easy to have an unhealthy relationship with money. It’s even easier to get off track when you have more to work with (yes, there are a few benefits to having less!).
Our finances do not define our value as human beings, but it is impossible to deny that our decisions in regards to our finances impact other important areas of our lives.
From our marriages to our physical health and well being, money plays a role. While we’re making steps to find direction in our lives, it’s worthwhile to spend some time really analyzing and regulating our financial habits and goals.
Our Favorite Things
Prioritizing hobbies and projects can feel strange if we’ve been putting ourselves last for a long time. It might even feel childish to consider taking time away from responsibilities to enjoy a hobby.
Growing up we are often praised for setting aside our “wants” in place of responsibilities and work. In fact, we can get so caught up in getting work done that we forget what it feels like to do something purely because it makes us feel happy.
We take care of what we need to take care of, and if we happen to enjoy the process, that’s just frosting on the cake.
We can begin to feel stagnant; like we are no longer working towards anything meaningful.
That’s why our projects and hobbies are so incredibly important to maintaining our personal growth and enthusiasm for life. They stoke the fire of interest and encourage us to learn new things as we go through our adult lives.
When we are inspired and enthusiastic about a hobby or project, it spreads to other areas of our lives. It gives us energy to grow and learn how to be better friends, family members, parents, and coworkers.
How to Achieve Long-term Growth and Passion
Maintaining a lifestyle of growth and enthusiasm requires us to be constantly moving through these three steps. Losing sight of our priorities and what makes us happy is at the root of many of our months or years that feel mundane.
Self awareness and pursuit of our priorities and passions should be at the forefront of our day-to-day life. Even when we have too much going on, we can be working towards becoming a better and more inspired version of ourselves.
Read more on aligning life priorities to short and long-term goals.
If you’ve been feeling like you’re in need of a refresh — get started on the 3-step process. Explore topics in:
- Renovating your mindset (setting goals & enjoying the present)
- Reclaiming your finances (better money talks & making progress on debt)
- Rediscovering your favorites (prioritizing your enthusiasm and hobbies)