New article up on Rebelle Society! I’ve been enamored of Rebelle for years, their writing always seems so honest and giving. My first article for them is about finding out who you are and taking steps to be where you want to be. Not an easy choice but always a worthy one.
5 Ways To Follow Your Bliss And Find What Makes You Happy April 22, 2015
We’ve all done it. We’ve all been sitting behind a desk, staring aimlessly at a computer screen, wishing we were somewhere else.
Walking to the office enmeshed in the rat race and wondering where your life went wrong. Leaving work at 5 o’clock, and in your mind you aren’t heading home, but running, sprinting, flying fervently in the direction of your dreams.
The thing is that pushing yourself to do something just so you can achieve the status quo, or so you can have a certain level of stability, is not a bad thing. A lot of people work unfulfilling day jobs, and satisfy themselves with other endeavors on the weekends and evenings.
I am decidedly not one of those people. And if you clicked on this article, then I have a sneaking suspicion that you aren’t one of those people either. Chances are, you are looking for a reason to get out from under your menial existence and live the life you’ve imagined.
Here’s five ways how you can do just that.
1. Spend time with yourself.
You know you want something else. You know you are destined for greatness. But you aren’t sure where to start. Truth be told, you aren’t even sure what you want out of life. The best and most profound way to figure that out is to spend inordinate amounts of time with yourself.
Take long walks, write in a journal, learn how to meditate. Take classes in things that interest you. Spend time looking at online blogs and sites that inspire you. Do whatever it takes to get to know yourself intimately. It may be hard at first, because we are all so used to socializing in our spare time.
But trust me when I tell you that it is in those quiet moments, when no one else is around, that you will find the true you. It will happen noiselessly and gracefully, and before you know it, you will be heading solidly in the direction of your dreams.
2. Be brave, be bold, be fearless
Nothing great ever happened because someone chose to remain meek.
Do something daring and brave. Quit your job, move out on your own, make a short film, start an online magazine… do something that you’ve been dreaming about but never had the guts to do. Life rewards those who take chances.We see it time and time again in the media and in the lives of our heroes.
So, be fearless and step out into the unknown. It’s scary but necessary. And once your fear subsides, you’ll realize that the trick is to stop thinking about the things you want and start doing them.
3. Use your connections/community
By the time you are in your mid-twenties, you’ve managed to build up a sizable community around you. Chances are, you have migrated towards the same kind of people that you one day want to be. In my case, it was a community of artists, visionaries, freethinkers and risk-takers.
When I took a look around, I noticed that I had a number of valuable resources right at my fingertips. Use these.
Reach out to everyone you know who can offer valuable insight or connections and tell them where you’re at. Social media is an amazing tool for this. Ask everyone for help. You will be surprised at the generosity of others. So many people will respond with advice and direction that your plate will be full.
4. Put your work out there
The biggest fear of any budding artist, writer or would-be professional is to be rejected. Everyone has that fear. But a big part of getting out of your own way is to put yourself out there for everyone to see. Be brave and accept rejection as part of your career. It will happen, but it will also make you better.
Being thick-skinned is a very big part of working in your chosen profession. Putting your work out there shows that you are unafraid to do what needs to be done in order for you to get what you want. People respect courage. So be fearless and you will probably find that you will receive more praise than trolls.
5. Work hard, every day, all the time
Hard work is a given. It’s one of those standard things that we hear all the time, starting from your teachers in middle school. While you can work hard every day, what no one teaches you is how to focus. In order to get what you want in life, you need to live, breathe and eat it.
If you want to write, write all the time and use every available situation in your life to inspire you. If you want to make art, take classes, pick up raw materials and experiment, spend time going to galleries and looking at other artists online.
The point is that whatever it is you want to do, make sure you are 100% dedicated to doing it. It may cut into your social time or your eating-cookie-dough-and-watching-Netflix time but in the end it will be worth it.
Following your bliss sounds simple, but it’s a challenging task. Life is geared towards so many distractions that it’s easy to get sidetracked from what you want. But if you could imagine it, what would your dream-life look like?
If you’re like me, than those daydreams were my life-blood for a good long time before I got out of my office chair and took the leap.
You could do it too. It may not be the most obvious choice, but it will ultimately be the right one.