We all go through it with different expectations, different goals, and different personalities but ultimately, we all want the same thing in the end and that’s happiness.
We want to live a life that we love but how can we achieve that? Before we dive in, let’s first discuss what it means to be living a life you love.
What does it mean to live a life you love?
When you’re living a life you love, you find joy and strength inside of you that allows you to overcome any obstacle, it doesn’t mean you won’t ever have another problem, it just means you’re able to accept it and work to fix it. It means that regardless of what anyone else thinks, you are doing what is best for you!
Now you know what we mean when we say living a life you love but where do you start? It’s simple – start by reading these 10 steps and then get to work.
10 Steps to Living a Life You Love
Step 1- Examine Your Current Life
If you’re not currently loving life, then you need to find out why. You’ll need to ask yourself some tough questions and figure out what’s working in your life and what isn’t. Start by asking yourself:
What are you tolerating, but not enjoying?
Do you love your job?
Are you happy with your relationships?
Are you bringing your best to the table every day?
While external factors can have a huge impact on the way you feel about your life, it’s important to also look at yourself and identify attitudes or behaviors that may be holding you back from enjoying life.
Take some time to define your values and then decide if the life you’re currently living is living up to those values – if it’s not, take action and fix it.
Step 2- Hold Yourself Accountable
Once you’ve identified the limiting behaviors it’s time to take responsibility for your actions and choices. Accepting that there’s truly little in life you can control besides your own reactions, behaviors, and attitudes will go a long way in helping you feel happy.
Making mistakes is normal, but are you learning from those mistakes? If you’re making the same mistakes over and over, you’ll need to ask yourself why and find a way to change that.
Have you picked up a few bad habits over the years? That’s ok! Habits can be made and broken. It just takes discipline and dedication.
Overcome laziness, leave behind excuses and negative thoughts and take responsibility for your actions.
Step 3- Refine Your Relationships
Make sure your tribe is a supportive one. It’s important that the people who are active in your life are adding value and providing positive guidance.
Even if you’re feeling down, avoid isolating yourself by reaching out to those close to you. Letting them know what you’re going through may result in a helping hand, which we could all use from time to time.
Release attachments to toxic relationships you have. It may be hard to do when you have a long history with a person; be it a family member, childhood friend, or partner.
If an interaction with someone in your life leaves you feeling down or low on energy you can safely assume, they’re one of the reasons you’re not enjoying life.
Focus your energies on nurturing and embracing the positive relationships you have; those will be the ones that push you toward the best version of yourself.
Step 4- Create A Vision
You’ve had the chance to reflect on your life and where it needs fine-tuning now, it’s time to create a vision for your new life; the one you love being the main character of.
Write down, or better yet, create a visual board of what your ideal life looks like.
Think about how you want to feel every day.
Define what habits you want to break and which you want to improve on.
What areas of your life do you want to dedicate more time to?
What do you want to do more of, and less of?
Use as much detail as you’d like to write out your hopes and dreams for your future.
Step 5- Make A Plan
To reach your vision you’ll need a plan so, get ready to set some goals!
For any big transformation, it’s important to set short-term and long-term goals.
Short-term goals allow you to have small milestones to work towards. The reward of achieving these smaller goals regularly will help you stay motivated toward achieving the big-picture vision.
Set a time frame for your long-term goals and remember, all the small goals you achieve, are already getting you closer to that long-term goal.
Having a road map for creating a life you love will help you stay focused and on track.
Feel free to adjust your goals along the way and don’t feel bad if you’re plan doesn’t play out exactly as intended. The most important part is getting back on track when you realize you’ve fallen off.
Step 6– Find A Passion
Passion allows our hearts to feel full and gives us a sense of feeling satisfied with life. Engaging in activities or causes that bring you passion will provide you with a sense of instant gratification.
Passion can be found in so many corners of your life but only if you’re engaging in, and with, the very things that light your fire. Passion can be found in your intimate relationships, it could be through a hobby, or it could be through a community cause you volunteer your time to.
When you dedicate your time to things that truly matter to you, you’ll realize how transformative this can feel on the inside.
It may not always be easy to find what you’re passionate about or even the time to dedicate to an existing passion. That’s ok, continue to experiment with different ideas, activities, and concepts in your free time, until something feels really great to you.
Try to set aside time each week when you dedicate yourself to your passion fully.
Step 7– Minimize Clutter
Have you ever felt that retail therapy is high from buying something new? Yes?
Now ask yourself, how long did that feeling last?
While buying material things can give us a sense of instant gratification, unfortunately, the feeling hardly lasts (unless it’s an amazing item that brings you joy every time you see it!).
Organize your spaces and let go of items that no longer serve a purpose in your life.
Implement a plan to stop seeking instant gratification and buy less!
Be more intentional when you do make purchases. This will ensure you’re only surrounded by items you love or need.
Step 8– Be Grateful
While re-evaluating your life, take a moment to acknowledge all the good that already exists in your life. A practice of daily gratitude will help you sustain a positive outlook on life.
Creating a daily habit of saying or writing down three things you’re grateful will help attract even more to be grateful for.
This practice helps train the mind to see the good in life instead of immediately focusing on the bad. Over time, this will become easier and more automatic.
You can start by being grateful for simple things such as your basic needs being met: a roof, a bed and good
Maybe you feel grateful for certain people in your life, for the quality time you get to spend with your pet, or even for your favorite item of clothing that makes you feel like a million bucks.
You can keep it as simple or as deep as you like!
Step 9– Maintain A Positive Attitude
A positive attitude breeds positive outcomes. Much like being grateful, having a positive mindset is a daily habit and a powerful tool for multiplying the positive things in your life.
Having a positive attitude means starting each day with the intention to have a good day. It means being resilient and capable of tackling anything that comes your way. It means believing in your ability to affect change in your life.
When you have a positive attitude, you don’t let external factors you can’t control affect your inner well-being. Think of your positive attitude as a shield; while you may feel the impact of negativity being thrown at you, it won’t affect your overall sense of peace.
Step 10- Be the Change You Seek
Stop waiting for someone else to change your life for you. You are your own authority and it’s your responsibility to take charge of your life. While change can be hard, it’s necessary for transformation.
Commit yourself to your goals, embrace a positive mindset, follow the road map you’ve created, and look within your moral compass when you’re faced with tough decisions to make.
Remember to reflect on what’s most important to you and pour your energies into those buckets.
Creating a Life You Love
Ultimately, you are the designer of your own life. You are where you are now because of a series of choices that were presented to you, and the sum of those choices is what led you to be here, today.
Whatever the circumstances of the choices you’ve made in the past, you now have a chance and a choice to create a life that fits your vision.
Creating a life you love will allow you to feel balanced and at peace. It may be one of the most important things you do for yourself in life.
Isn’t being happy and at peace what we all want, after all?
This life is yours to live and the power for change is always going to be in your hands.
It takes a shift in mindset, and a commitment to living a positive life. It means surrounding yourself with people who are supportive and add value to your life. It takes eliminating the sources of negativity from your life and embarking on a journey to figure out what gives your life meaning.
Living a life you love doesn’t mean you won’t encounter obstacles and challenges along the way. But your positive attitude and resilient mindset will give you the strength to know you can overcome anything. Those challenges will turn into lessons of wisdom. It’s up to you to choose which attitude you bring to the table.
Creating a life you’re proud to live takes time. It’ll also require you to re-examine where you stand and make adjustments when things start to feel out of tune.
Following these 10 steps and advice will put you on track toward creating a life you love. We all deserve to feel happy and satisfied with ourselves and our lives. So, are you ready to give yourself this chance?