The Bottom Line: It’s your right and responsibility to create a life that supports your goals, your values, and what you want to experience in life.
A big challenge to figuring out what’s next for you is hesitating to make any decision for fear of making the wrong decision.
Another is messaging that comes from many sources – family, friends, even society in general – about how thinking of yourself and what’s best for you makes you a horrible, selfish, maybe even sinful person.
Let’s not forget how a tendency to should on yourself (“I should be grateful for what I have”) can make it unfortunately easy to settle for going on as you are, rather than making a conscious effort to create a future that makes your heart sing.
Lastly, it can be almost impossible to figure out what you want to experience next if you can’t identify what you feel is lacking in your current life situation.
If any of these challenges sound familiar to you, you might be thinking, “Yeah, well, that’s not especially helpful. How about some tips on how to overcome the damn challenges?”
Okay. Give these a shot:
- Practice making no-lose decisions. Instead of labeling choices as “right” and “wrong,” begin labeling them as “right, because it gets me these positive outcomes” and “right, because it gets me those positive outcomes.” This eliminates a lot of the pressure and procrastination that often surround decisions – especially big ones, like about what to create next in life.
- Treat yourself with the same level of respect and consideration as you do your loved ones. Rather than consistently putting yourself and your wishes last, start acting as if you are the most important person in your own life – because you really are.
- Give up your seat on the Guilt Express and stop telling yourself you “should” be grateful and settle for whatever you already have and are now. Instead, approach life with a both/and perspective: Do express gratitude for what you have and excitedly anticipate creating even more wonderfulness going forward.
- Start thinking of what emotions you want to experience on a regular basis. Do you want peace of mind? Excitement over new adventures? Satisfaction over providing high-quality service? Whatever emotions you want to experience more often in your future, they are reflections of your values and goals. Have fun brainstorming the consistent emotions that would lead you to think, “Oh, my gosh...I love my life!”
- And when it comes to how to experience those emotions, remember that you can get to any given destination by many different routes! If you want to experience the serenity of a dedicated meditation space, you don’t need to buy a whole new house; you can get the same outcome by thoughtfully re-purposing an under-used space in your current home.
If you like the sound of these ideas, you can get even more tips on powerfully creating what’s next for yourself. Just select the no-charge DIY Guides that appeal to you most, and start taking action. You’ve got this!
(BTW, thank to Beatnik Photos for posting the question marks in the Creative Commons section of Flickr.)
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