“What’s Your Why?” is the new buzz phrase.
Motivation is a powerful thing. I believe identifying your reasons for doing something is essential in success. When it came to creating my calendar for 2023, “My Why” was easy to spell out. Here is my story.
Back to the start.
The last few years have been tough for everyone. Way, way back in 2019, when life as we knew it forever changed with the pandemic, our ideas of what our lives were going to look like moving forward changed as well. Many people chose to hunker down and weather the storm, wishing hoping and dreaming of better days to come. Others were forced to figure out how to survive despite devastating set-backs, financial struggles and physical challenges.
The devastation got worse.
During this time, I faced every mother’s worst nightmare, the death of my daughter to cancer. (It was devastating.) Within weeks of that, my business was tossed completely upside-down, inside-out and I had to redesign my company to accommodate the pandemic lockdown. (It was chaotic!) Then, it became necessary to move my 93-year-old father into memory care facility. (It was heartbreaking!) And just to make things interesting, covid ran through our family. It was touch and go for a few of us.
Life moved on in the same pattern.
I forced myself to keep going. There were many days that I was in my “Act As If” mode. You know, act as if everything is going to be fine even though I had more doubts than conviction. By 2020, a full year into the pandemic, I was feeling overwhelmed. But through it all, I was determined to not let the pandemic define the rest of my life.
I decided to permanently shift my mindset.
I knew in my heart that despite how messy life was at the moment, I could still choose to make it good. 2020 was half way over and there was still so much I wanted to do with my life and wasn’t about to let the trials I was facing get me down. So, I scribbled out a post-it note and stuck it on my computer monitor that said,
“Choose to be the girl who decided to go for it.”
I now had a new vision!
With that as my mantra, 2021 took on a new light. I rewrote the script for this next phase of my life. I decided to stop dreaming about what I wanted and made a concrete plan. Then, moving forward, I made sure each choice was consistent with my plan. And I didn’t let fear stop me.
The plan wasn’t perfect but I stuck to it adapting where needed.
When things started falling apart, as they inevitably do, I laughed my way through the adversity and chose to believe that the set-back I was experiencing was really a set-up for the magnificent things that were yet to come my way.
The most important choice I made.
I chose to be joyful. Every step of the way, I refused to not look for the joy that I believe is there in every moment if we but look. I discovered I was stronger than I could have ever imagined and in the process found a level of bliss I never knew existed. And as I finally embraced and owned up to my potential, I realized I was boundless and limitless in every way.
I’m once again living my best life.
Today, I can truly say I’m once again living my best life. It wasn’t easy but I did it. If I can do it, so can you. Because if there was ever a time to embrace your passions and make your dreams a reality, that time is now. Choose to live your best life to its fullest today. Be the woman who decided to go for it.
