“Love the life you live.” That was a quote I heard from CNN anchor, Chris Cuomo this evening in his nightly closing remarks. It resonated with me. I talk about designing a life that you love so you can live a life you love, very often in my work and in my personal life. But, hearing Chris say it tonight was almost as if he was talking directly to me. Earlier today I was feeling quite lethargic. I woke up with a slight headache that lingered throughout most of the day. But, I pushed through it and served my clients while simultaneously being aware of what my body was telling me—which is to take care of yourself, too, Asha!
Isn’t nurturing yourself a part of loving the life that you design? Yes, it is. And, part of being an independent small business owner is that I get to work as much or as little as I need to. At the same time, I get to take a moment and reflect on what Chris Cuomo said– “love the life you live.” He didn’t love the life that you live working like a slave until you die doing it. Sometimes, we need a break from the things we do making life so great. That may sound contradictory, right? Mostly because you hear so much that people say if you love the life you have you never have to do anything else nor go anywhere else. Well, that is mostly true. But, that was also true before we lived in a pandemic. For me, traveling makes me joyful. It gives me peace of mind. And, it helps me be more creative. I’m a pretty adaptable person, but being in the house for 5 plus months working while also being grateful can get to even the most aware people, too. So, I ask myself, and you too, how do we continue to love life, especially when we’re tired, restless, sad, or confused about what the world is going to do next?
Maybe we can begin with conceptualizing a few things about redesigning life as many times as we need to, so we can still love it and live it, with appreciation. I begin to think about some of these things when I think of re-sculpting a beautiful and purposeful life:
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- Do I measure well-being and happiness based on how much I’m doing or how well I’m doing?
- Am I competing with other industry experts to stay relevant or am I always working to be ahead of the curve and unforgettable?
- Do I like to feel accomplished by how many new ideas I have, or how many ideas I execute a month or a week?
- When do I notice my energy starting to change—is it when I’m depleted, slightly irritable, or when starting to forget the little things I typically remember?
- Do I measure well-being and happiness based on how much I’m doing or how well I’m doing?
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What I love about being in business for myself is I get to change things up. I get to change the times of day I start seeing clients. I get to change where I work—whether it’s in my office, or in a bedroom filled with natural sunlight, or at my friend’s place. And every week, I get to decide how I want to wind down.
The only condition for me to fully unwind is that my priority list is shorter at the end of the week than it was when I started the week. My idea of accomplished means that I’ve met my commitments to my clients for the week, I have my calendar up to date for the start of my upcoming week, and my personal to-do list is finished or at least close to done by the time I kick back for the weekend.
So, as I return to the opening message here, it’s that you can love the life you live, and sometimes, get sick and tired of it too. It doesn’t mean you’re an ingrate if you do. However, when you begin to feel like you could be behaving ungratefully, just think about that list I presented above and see what you notice about your habits and mood, especially when your beautiful life gets to be too much even for you to bear. Maybe it’s not the case that you don’t like the life you created anymore. Possibly, it’s that you need to take a break from an aspect of it so you can redesign something more manageable for your current state of mind. What do you think?
*This blog is about becoming free. It’s a reflection of introspective thoughts and experiences that have crossed miles of self-discovery. I created this blog to inspire others to live life with less self-criticism, judgment and openness to new experiences. May you find that you learn how to live a life by design and on your own terms!*