The dull ache

If you had a magic wand and you could change anything in your life, what would you change? What would your life look like after you waved that wand?

Would anything change? What car would you drive? Would you ride a bike instead? Where would you live? What skills would you have? How would you feel when you wake up? What would your bank account look like? Would you be a published author? A dancer? A poet? How much would you weigh? Would you be at peace? How would your body feel? What kind of friend would you be? Would you spend more time hiking and camping? Would you eat a healthy, kick-ass plant based diet? What colors would your walls be?

Grab some paper and a pen or open up the Notes app on your phone and title the page “My Life After the Magic Wand.” Take a few minutes to write down, in bullet points, what your life would look like if you could wave a magic wand and change your reality.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Take your time.

Now, on another piece of paper or in another note, title it “My Life for the Past Three Days,” and write down everything you did for the past three days in bullet points as best as you can remember.

What time did you wake up? What did you have for breakfast? Did you go to work? What did you do on your lunch break? What did you do after you got home from work? Did you cook? What did you eat? Did you drink alcohol? Did you watch TV? What time did you go to bed? How much time did you spend on your phone? Write down as much detail as you can about the last three days of your life.

And…go! I’ll make a cup of tea while I wait (<------- actually went to make tea).

Okay, tea in hand.

Let’s do some tallying up. On a new piece of paper or note, title it “Scoring.” Make one column that says “Helping” and one column that says “Not helping.”

Read the first list you made—My Life After the Magic Wand. Then, read the second list—My Life for the Past Three Days. As you read each thing you did over the past three days, ask yourself: Did this help me achieve anything in my magic wand life?

If something helped, put a 1 in the “Helping” column.
If something did not help, put a 1 in the “Not helping” column.
When you’re done, add up each column.
If you have a higher number in the “Not helping” column than you have in the “Helping” column, you know it’s time to make some different choices.

Why?

Because in order to become the person you want to become, you have to do the things that person does. 

Your actions now create the person you will be later.

Want to be someone who eats a kick-ass plant based diet?
You will need to get in the kitchen and cook some healthy food.

Do you want your life to be full of creating art?
Then you must practice making art.

Do you want to be someone who is physically strong?
Workouts better be part of your routine.

Do you want to be a published author?
You will need to spend time each day filling up pages with words.

This exercise will help you make intentional choices instead of cruising on auto-pilot with your eyes closed, hoping the breeze nudges you in the direction you want to go. A nice breeze is fabulous, but YOU get to decide what you want and then take intentional actions to get you there.

For example, if you want to be healthy and thriving from the inside out, and you eat takeout, drink soda, watch a lot of TV, and never exercise, then either you don’t really want to be healthy and thriving, or you forgot that you have to make that shit happen.

No shame either way; it’s part of being human. If you don’t want what you thought you wanted, now is a good time to change your mind and decide what today’s you wants. If you forgot that you have to show up each day and make choices that will create the life you want, consider this your reminder.

Get out one more piece of paper and write down three things you can do today that will help you reach your magic wand life. Then do those things, no matter how big or small. It’s never too late to start living your life with intention in order to make your dreams come true, no wand required.

You got this.

Molly