Hello my sweethearts!
Very few people, if you were to sit across from them over coffee, would proclaim that owning everything in the world is their greatest goal in life. . . . Most people would answer quite differently.
When you engage in matters of the heart and have heartfelt conversations and ask people what they want to accomplish in life, most speak of love, relationships, impact, and significance. They desire to live meaningful lives, close to the people they love the most. Many speak of faith. Or they talk about solving important problems.
Very few proudly declare, “I just want to make as much money and own as much stuff as I possibly can.”
Our hearts speak of something greater, more fulfilling, and longer lasting.
I suspect yours does too.
Too often it seems, we trade our heart’s greatest pursuits and greatest passions for 'temporary' possessions of this world.
A friend of mine shared an article about a man who mentors CEO’s and corporate executives in the Pacific Northwest.
When asked about his work and how he got started in it he said, “I had a surprising number of retiring executives come to me and say something along the lines of, ‘I feel like I wasted my life.’" He went on to say that these men and women had spent their lives investing into and growing companies that were successful by almost every standard of measurement. But at the end, the only question they were asking was, “Was it all worth it?”
Now, just to be clear, this is not a post about regret or the merits of CEOs and execs. This is a post about something else entirely.
This is a post about the temptation that surrounds each of us, every day. . . to trade our greatest passions for the 'things' of this world.
Minimalism is not just about living with less, it's more about living in alignment.
It is about removing the burden of unnecessary physical possessions from our homes and lives. Scary!! It is also about reevaluating the esteem that possessions hold in our affections. And being intentional about removing the distractions that keep us from realizing our most important goals.
It is freeing to own less. Owning less frees up money and time and energy and focus.
But it frees up more than that.
Minimalism frees our lives to realign our resources around the greatest passions of our heart. (tweet that!)
And this is a benefit that cannot be overstated.
Recently I moved to North Carolina. (I've written briefly about that.)
My 'possessions' have yet to arrive. They are still in LA since packing up and leaving in early this November.
It's amazing how, when forced to live without your 'things' you can get by. You discover the gratitude in the things you took for granted. Yet, you manage to make it work, regardless.
Habit, routine, bare essentials.
Again, don't get me wrong here, I've pared down for my move from Long Island to California, and again for this move from LA to North Carolina. I would still like the 'things' that didn't make the cut!
But it sure had me realize what was ACTUALLY important FOR me to thrive now.
I'm here, in this place and in this time, to pursue something that's been nudging me and taunting my intuition.
I've moved here to be with the energies of children. The energy that extends beyond the normal 'mother and child' relationship.
And we all feel it.
Something bigger this way comes.
If I didn't leap again, and leap now, would I ever?
How many "Monday's" will we have left to start?
Simply going through the motions of life puts us directly in the passenger seat when we should really be in the driver's seat.
It's easy to go through this fast-paced world feeling as if you are being dragged through your weeks on the back of a wild horse. That's the life of an entrepreneur quite honestly! Many of us go from one thing to another until we end up in the evening with just enough time to wind down and go to sleep, waking up the next morning to begin the wild ride once more.
Perhaps naturally this can be exhilarating for certain periods of time, yet a life lived entirely in this way can be exhausting, and more important, it places us in the passenger's seat when really we are the ones who should be driving.
When we take responsibility for charting our own course in life, we may well go in an entirely different direction from the one laid out for us by society and familial expectations. This can be uncomfortable in the short term, but in the long term it is much worse to imagine living this precious life without ever taking the wheel and navigating our own course. Of course, time spent examining the big picture could lead us to see that we are happy with the road we are on, but we would like more time with family or more free time to do whatever we want at the moment.
Even if we want more extreme changes, the way to begin is to get off the road for long enough to catch our breath and remember who we are and what we truly want.
Once we do that, we can take the wheel with confidence, driving the speed we want to go in the direction that is right for us.
This road feels right for me, especially for this stage of my life. I needed to make a few adjustments . . . take time to step back again and assess a new path. And I know I will be doing this often, especially when my instincts nudge me again.
This is the actual view from my new front porch.
Ahh...this feels better already.
Stay tuned, there's more!
If I can help you gain some clarity and help you assess what feels right for you, reach out to me here. We can do this together. Now.
Much love,
Lucia