7 Simple Ways I'm Taking My Life To The Next Level

I'm at a point in my life where everything is heavy. It feels insurmountable, and every small step forward comes with 20 steps backwards.

The other day, I caught myself TWICE telling two of my kids that I can no longer chase my dreams. It is time for me to put that aside and figure out how to move on with my life.

Throw away the idea of my dream career and get something that will support them.

How did I get here?

To a place of desperation where even the thought of my dreams coming true reminds me of how far behind I am. That I have set so many goals and have these massive dreams that just remind me that I am not good enough.

I'm not good enough at owning a business.

I'm not good enough at believing in myself.

I am just not good enough.

I don't know how I got here. When I let life take my passion, my dreams, and my sense of self.

So, where does that leave me?

It leaves me in this weird limbo. A limbo where I don't feel like myself. Where everything feels like it is slipping away. Things I thought I knew. Things I thought I understood. Things I thought I was.

Where I have to lower my head, cry to myself, and choose something safe and not my dream, or a place where I don't believe that I'm too old or not enough, and that I keep following my dreams. Where a decision feels like it needs to be made.

But maybe the answer isn't in giving up or pushing harder.

Maybe it's in going smaller. Simpler. Slower.

Maybe the way forward isn't some massive leap, but continued small steps forward. A quiet, steady choice to remember who I am and BELIEVE that my dreams still have power.

7 SIMPLE WAYS I'M TAKING MY LIFE TO THE NEXT LEVEL

I am looking for ways to simplify my life, BUT also to allow myself to live out loud. To follow my dreams in a way that doesn't feel overpowering and unrealistic. These are the seven ways that will allow me to take my life to the next level.

I'M MAKING SPACE FOR MYSELF, EVEN IF IT'S JUST 10 MINUTES A DAY

Not for productivity. Not for fixing anything. Just to be. To breathe. To feel. To write in a journal or cry, or listen to music that brings me home to myself. Time just to allow me to be present.

I'M SAYING MY DREAMS OUT LOUD AGAIN

Even when I don't know how they will happen. Even if my kids overhear. Because if I want them to believe in possibility, I have to model what dreaming looks like even when odds are against me.

I'M REDEFINING WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

What if success isn't the six-figure business or a perfect career? What if success is choosing not to abandon myself? To try again today. To believe that being "behind" isn't real. It's just a story that I've been told. I'm going to try and figure out what true success means to me and start to live by that.

I'M LETTING GO OF THE TIMELINE

Dreams don't expire because I'm older or because life has been hard. I get to take a break and come back. I get to write a new chapter. I am here for the journey, and just because I am 40 doesn't mean that I can't chase what I was put on this Earth to do.

I'M SURROUNDING MYSELF WITH VOICES THAT LIFT

Books. Podcasts. People. Instagram posts. Pinterest pins. I'm curating my world like it's my vision board because what I feed my mind becomes what I believe, and I am ready to believe in those WILDLY OUTRAGEOUS dreams of mine!!

I'M DOING ONE, TINY DOABLE THING A WEEK TOWARD MY DREAM

Not launching an empire. (At least not in a day.) Just updating my bio. Sending an email. Making a plan. A dream doesn't die when it moves slowly. It dies when I stop moving completely. Today, I messaged four women who may be interested in letting me help them publish their book!

I'M PRACTICING SPEAKING TO MYSELF WITH KINDNESS

Have you ever caught yourself describing yourself to another person? Telling them all the things that you aren't good at, BUT not naming a single thing that you are good at. This is me! I am terrible at accepting compliments (see, I just did it again!)

I'm tired of being at war with myself. And maybe, I can't love this version of myself yet, but I can learn to be on my own side.

So, where am I now?

Still in the mess, yes.

BUT I'm not abandoning myself this time.

I'm standing in the rubble of the pressure, the perfection, and all of the expectations and I'm deciding to rebuild my life. Not from scratch, but from the pieces of who I already am and becoming.

And maybe, just maybe, that's where the magic begins again.