Life by design, living your values, intentional living, priorities....there's a million ways to describe it, but what does it all mean? I came to this realization only recently, and it's been a wonderful eye opener...it's all the same thing. It means living your life, the way YOU want to live it, each and every day.
It's the number one thing I hear from people when we start talking about healthy living..."I don't have time to exercise or eat xyz." But the truth of the matter is, at least for most of the people I have had these conversations with, if you don't have time, it's because it's not a priority for you. This is not true for many who are living in hardship, where running water is a luxury, and finding food every day is a struggle. For them, life is consumed by trying to just survive and they don't have time for much else. But for most of us, and for most of you reading this blog, the truth is that if you are telling yourself you don't have time to exercise, or eat well, or call a friend, or spend time taking care of your mind/body/soul, it's because it's not a priority for you. In the worlds we live in, our time is spent based on what we deem to be important. We make tradeoffs, every single day. A skipped morning workout for an extra 45 minutes in bed, a free slice of pizza in the office kitchen for lunch instead of spending 10 minutes going to the cafeteria and standing in the salad line, an extra late night binge watch on Netflix instead of going to bed on time...it's all about priorities.
I'm not saying that someone's priorities are better than someone else's, but I am saying that it is about the choices you CHOOSE to make. Stop telling me you don't have time, and instead tell me that you chose to prioritize the sleep over the workout or the pizza over the salad...because that's what felt good in the moment.
In the long run, it's these priorities that determine the course of our lives. In the long run, it's these choices that will either make you happy, or not. I finally came to this realization after recently completing a values exercise, which I would encourage each and every one of you to try. It goes something like this:
Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down the following:
1) 5-10 things you value in yourself (for example: I value my ability to be direct, I value my honesty, etc)
2) 5-10 things you value in life (in others/in the world) (for example: I value kindness, integrity, nature, etc.)
3) How you conduct your life (ie, where do you spend your time? doing what? with whom?)
Once you've completed all three steps, look back and compare -- does #3 align with #1 and #2? Or do things seem to not fit? Are you spending your time every day doing things that you value with people you value? Or are you spending most of your time doing things that don't really fit into your value system? And if so, do you have the ability to re-prioritize? If you do, I would really encourage you to do so and find a whole new level of happiness in your life.
When you are living your values, and spending time on the things you care about deep down, with the people you actually care about deep down, it can greatly impact the way you live your life -- the quality of your life, and the happiness you find in your everyday. I know it has for me, and I wish nothing but the same for each of you reading this post. <3