Why a Fulfilling Life is Unique for Everyone

How’s life?  You answer that question almost every day and “I’m fine” slips out without thought.

What does that mean? It’s different for everyone.

It’s our privilege as humans to pursue a life of fulfillment.  But that is such a subjective idea.  What seems to be a fulfilling life as a teenager is entirely different than a busy mom in her 30s.

I recently listened to an interview with Nastia Liukin.  A five-time Olympic Gold medalist.  As a kid, she felt blessed to pursue her dreams at the highest levels, but the career of an Olympic gymnast has a short lifespan.  She had to redefine herself in her mid-twenties.

You may not have the desire to go for the gold but we can all relate to having to redefine our dreams.

Let’s look at the factors that make up a fulfilled life.

Making Time for Everything

This is impossible. Or is it?

Life balance is a joke.  If you survived quarantine distance learning with young kids you are no doubt on board.

But you can still make time for it all if you look at your life as a whole.  Develop a life plan and work on the areas that are important.

It may be that when you were in lockdown with your littles, your role as a mom was all you could pour yourself into at that moment.  Let’s face it...you probably had no other choice.

Here in my little corner of Northern California, school will be starting back up next week.  My mom duties will be taken down a notch and I can pour my efforts back into my coaching clients.

Virtues

Now you’re thinking...what the heck is a life plan?  I can barely see past tomorrow how do I figure out what’s important to me?

This used to be me and to be honest I still struggle with this at times.  The magic is in your virtues.  And again you’re lost...what are your virtues?

You might have scanned through a long list of virtues during some mindset and picked a few.  How’s that working out?

Hold on...I just discovered a trick to find the answer to that last question.  Look at your biggest hurts and turn them upside down.

I’ll go first in hopes that this will shed some light.  About ten years ago I had a friend cut me out of her life completely without reason.  She was a close friend and it hurt ALOT!  I don’t want to air all of my dirty laundry but this is evidence that loyalty is a virtue I hold dear.

Build Relationships Over Possessions

Your definition of a dream life is different from mine but the one thing we all have in common is the need for connection.  Yes, even the introverts.

This doesn’t mean you need a social calendar packed with activities.  In fact, back-to-back events exhaust me.

Just making a connection.  A connection with your neighbor.  A connection with your Dad or even a connection with your barista is enough to bring more fulfillment into your life.

Here’s a quick way to invest in any relationship:

• What one thing were you grateful for yesterday?
• Who made this one thing happen?
• Thank that person and be as specific as possible.  Do it in person if you can, by phone if you can’t, or at least a quick text

You can chase that fulfilled life and never quit.  You may change directions a few times along the way.  That’s ok. Do it with intention. Bring your cheering squad. Reach out if you’re lost.