the stories we tell

Every once in a while, when I look up, I’m struck by the immensity of this world. Early mornings are my favourite time for this type of musing. When things are still and quiet and the world is just waking up, I’ll be riding my bike to work and I look up. I see the vast spread of sky, sometimes with the colours of dawn, pink and coral and orange, tinting the blue or gray of the morning. And I think to myself, someone somewhere is looking up at the same sky and living an entirely different life. We all are writing our stories.

I find it so powerful. When I need to be pulled out of my day-to-day bubble, to remember that so much of this life is bigger than me and that at any moment I could make a decision that changes it entirely. It helps me to hone in on the things I love about my life, what’s really beautiful and joyful, and the things that could use some work, what choices am I making that aren’t serving me?

I recently did a mini-course from Living Well Spending Less, called Crushing It. Ruth Soukup, the creator of Living Well Spending Less, developed a goal setting method that helps you clearly define what you want to achieve, what brings you joy and adds to your life, and how to cut away the things that don’t. I’ve actually never been a big goal setter, I think because of my own fear of not achieving those goals. But using Ruth’s course helped me to really focus on what I do want for my life and map out how to achieve it. One SMALL step at a time.

She really challenges you to think big when setting your goals! I know for myself, when I think big, I feel the fear creep in. Sometimes it’s just a physical sensation, I may not cognitively be aware that I am doubting myself, but I am. I know that my brain is telling me, no you can’t do that, you don’t know how or what you have to offer isn’t good enough.

But I don’t want fear to be a part of my story. So I’ve been using the Weekly Wizard Sheet, which you can actually get a free copy of if you do the course! To clearly outline what I’m doing each week to get closer to what I want for my life, breaking into smaller pieces so I don’t feel overwhelmed and I’m feeling so excited! The steps I need to take, even if all of them aren’t super fun, are heading me in the direction I want to go which automatically makes me feel eager to do them.

Here’s a little goal setting motivation music to get you on your way!