living a life, not a lifestyle

Having a fulfilling life, not just an impressive lifestyle has been cropping up a lot lately. The whole notion of living on purpose. Being conscious about the choices we make, the way we lead our life and the type of lifestyle we get to create.

Do you know that YOU get to create your life?

“Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for – in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car and the house you leave vacant all day so that you can afford to live in it.”

Ponder THAT for a second. . . go on, read it again  s l o w l y.

WOW.

Life and lifestyle are like love and lust. You can have both, but only one is going to give you sustained contentment. Have a think about how much of your life is being consumed by your lifestyle? There’s nothing wrong with having the great lifestyle, as long as it doesn’t have you!

Here’s what I love about the lifestyle I have consciously chosen for myself: I get to wear stretchy pants every day. Each day is different – no 8-6 ground-hog day for me. I get to see nature – the sky, the sun, the trees – every single day – no more commuting in the dark to and from work. I can do a yoga class in the middle of the day. I can get a seat at my favourite cafe during the week, instead of lining up out the door on weekends. . . AND I get to work from home when I want (PJ’s optional). In one word? FREEDOM.

Now these things may not be up your alley – but know that whatever IS, you can have.

Sure, there are things in from my former lifestyle that I don’t have anymore – but most of those are related to my ego anyway – the fancy job title, ‘important’ meetings with ‘important’ clients (my coaching clients are FAR more important than they could ever be!), climbing the rung of the corporate ladder – these things never really made me happy anyway, I just thought they did because I didn’t know any better.

For me, these changes have come hand in hand with my change in career – I don’t believe you can truly separate the two. We spend the majority of our waking lives at work – so if you are looking to change your lifestyle, the first place you need to start looking is your career.

“Your time is limited. So don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs.

Think about the type of lifestyle you want to create for yourself, for your family. Attraction to these things ultimately leads you to feel bigger, more complete, more integrated and connected. Seduction on the other hand, ultimately makes you regretful, poorer, made up of conflicting pieces. Attraction is substance, seduction is surface. Make sure that you are building a solid foundation out of substance; your values, your passions, your authentic desires. Leave your ego at the door, and let go of any pre-conceived notions of what your life should look like.

The question is – Are you working for a lifestyle or are you living your life?”

Ideas to change it if your lifestyle has you:

• Identify what about your life isn’t really YOU at all
• Identify where you are in debt because you are feeding a lifestyle
• Identify who and what gives you life compared to who are merely players in your lifestyle
• Downsize or even toss out the lifestyle stuff that’s detracting you from living life
• Write down what your ideal life would be and chuck out the lifestyle and see what’s left
• Get to know what your values are

The clearer you can be on your own life vision, the more chance you have of living your lifestyle consciously. You can then set very clear, inspiring  goals – and get to live in possibility, making choices daily that align with those goals. Every day you step closer and closer towards your vision.

So what is it you want to create for your life?

“If you are not working towards your own goals, someone else is paying you to achieve theirs.”