i'll never forget what my philosophy professor said to us on our first day of class
he said philosophy is about unlearning everything you think you already know
from that moment i began to slowly unravel my views on the world
for the first time i started to question what it means to live a good life
to be happy to live a life that is truly meaningful and fulfilling
we all ask ourselves these questions in one form or another
but i never thought about what this looked like for me and how it applied to my own life
for the first time i felt like i was figuring out how to live life on my own terms to me
living life on our own terms means to form our own unique perspective of the world
to let go of the narrative that's been handed down to us
make room for new possibilities to know that we hold the power to be the writer of our own stories
and allow our lives to become the message we send to the world
i don't have it all figured out and i don't think anyone does but there are some questions that
really reshaped my thoughts and my vision for life and i wanted to share them with you today
what truly motivates you for so many of us the motivation behind our actions is money status
good grades other people's approval or praise well i don't think that there's anything wrong with
that i've always wondered what do these external factors mean to us and how fulfilling is it really
in the book the happiness equation the author talks about the difference between
intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation people who are extrinsically motivated will find
it difficult to continue to do something because the tasks might not be in and of itself rewarding
but people who are intrinsically motivated will be satisfied
not from reaching a specific goal but from the work itself
i have personally felt that the extrinsic motivations in my life can only take me so far
with youtube with minimalism relationships fitness goals or new hobbies so now anytime i decide to
take on a new project connect with someone or pursue a new path i ask myself what is the true
motivation behind this and is what i'm getting out of this truly worth my time and my efforts
in my recent video i talked about how society makes us feel like we're never enough
and i realized that i unknowingly carried this mindset with me all throughout my life i felt
like i never had enough time on the weekends never earned enough money never enough trips
never enough cute outfits and the list goes on but then i realized that i
wouldn't even know if i had enough because i never defined what enough means to me
from that moment i took note of how much i spent each month how many pieces in my closet i actually
wore how many trips were memorable to me and how much of my free time i wasted versus spent doing
the things i loved and no surprise it turned out that i had more than enough when we determine what
is enough for us we can stop chasing what we lack and begin to just appreciate everything we have
it's not giving up on our goals or just settling but it's being content
and choosing gratitude so i hope you try to pay attention to what you truly need
and what you don't what is enough for you and what you can cut out from your life
and you might also find that you already have everything you were looking for
we all have our unique strengths my husband and i were reminded of this when we worked on renovating
our house together he is very measured and calculated and i'm an ideas girl and tend
to look at the bigger picture instead of focusing on our differences we eventually learn to use our
natural skills and talents to work as a team and realize that what each of us brought to the table
were equally important the point is we're all so special and focusing on our strengths is a way to
shine light onto what makes us truly unique this way we won't feel like we're constantly falling
short or worry about not measuring up to others so take a moment to ask yourself without any effort
what are you naturally drawn to what excites you what makes you feel alive confident and fulfilled
while i understand that many circumstances are far beyond my control i also know that i can make
empowering choices along the way to shape the direction towards the life that i want to live
i think this is why it's so important to take some time to envision and plan out our lives
even if it changes with time the plan isn't to calculate every little step of the way
but it's a chance to map out our priorities and set specific milestones for ourselves
which can give us a bigger purpose and it can guide the decisions that we make in our day to day
this way we're no longer letting life happen to us but we're letting life happen for us
this can be done in so many different ways it can be as simple as writing a personal mission
and vision statement in our journal or creating a vision board to actually piece together your
dream life every once in a while i like to write down all the different areas of my life
my health relationships career passions spirituality visualize how all the different
dimensions can come together to shape my success happiness and true fulfillment
for most of my life i felt like i had to act as myself instead of just being
myself saying all the right things wearing what's appropriate smiling at the right times
going through life from one predictable milestone to the next
i remember feeling quite empty inside because i was just mimicking what society
and everyone else expected of me instead of taking the time to figure out who i really was
the thing is no matter how much i want to point the finger at others i realize now
that the only person who was actually holding me back from living the life that i wanted was me
i know that saying phrases like don't hold yourself back
is much easier said than done because most of us have close families and friends and people
in our lives that direct us down the path they believe is the best for us but there
comes a point when we have to draw a distinct line between respecting the opinion of others
who love us and trusting our own voice that is telling us otherwise
now i try to listen to that inner voice
because i feel that it's the only way to live a life that feels true to me
it has led me down some wild and unknown paths but that's okay because i was happy to know that
it was a path that i chose so whatever you're contemplating on i hope you don't allow others
to hold you back but most importantly i hope that you don't hold yourself back remember there is no
right answer in life so let's experiment do the things we want and learn the lessons as they come
i truly believe that we all have the power to start writing our own stories the way we see fit
so i hope you take advantage of what's been handed to you to create a beautiful story
that is uniquely yours thank you guys so much for watching and i'll talk to you very soon take care