Finding our own way to do things, our own life path is both vitally important to living a full, joyous, authentic life and at the same time not so easy, particularly if your chosen path is different from those around you. In addition, in this day and age of social media and Google, we have an incredible amount of information coming at us, from experts of all types, each advising and promoting their own point of view, it is easy for us to forget, that each and every one of us is, in fact, an expert in our own lives.
When my husband and I decided to follow our dream and move to Cabarete, Dominican Republic our joyful announcement was met with looks of incredulity. How could we leave our life, our home, our business, our roots? People just don’t do this sort of thing, the looks and silences said. However, a mere 4 months later, having made the move, we realized we were surrounded by many others who had also found their own paths and were living their version of the dream.
This and many other such experiences of following my own life path have led me to the following 5 Tips.
- Listen to your own voice, intuition, heart’s desire or whatever else you want to call it! Listen carefully, it may shout at you, if so you are lucky. It may also speak quietly, it may be hidden, it may be dismissed as ” only a dream”. Our dream of moving to a Carribean Island was screaming at us. I would stand on the beach and want with all my heart to call that spot home.
2. Listen also to what is not right for you. Listen for words like ” should, ought to, must”, frequently they signal, messages from someone other than ourselves. Listen to your body, for signals like a tight neck, tense stomach, for the body can show us what is not right for us. As loudly as the dream called to us to move to Cabarete, the reason why not to, shouted back! Are you crazy? You love your home. You love your business. Who does this? You can’t. We hired a coach to help us combat the yeah buts!
3. Surround yourself with others who follow their own path. They will inspire you, encourage you and support you as you follow your own path. I was shown at an early age by my parents, that no dream was too big, no wallet too small, as they carted three kids around the world to follow their dreams!
4. It is OK to be nervous or scared on your path. This does not mean the path is not correct, it just means it is new and there will be lots of emotion. When we were making the move to Cabarete, we were scared, nervous, excited, sad to leave, sometimes all at once, but we saw those as part of the process, not as a sign to give up.
5. Believe and never give up. Henry Ford once said “
If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right”e believed 100% in our dream and did everything it took to make it happen and it did.
As always, I hope this has been helpful to you as you follow your path.
Warmly,
Coach Susy
Susy Giddy is a certified Life Coach. One of her specialties is helping people find and lead their best lives. She can be reached at susy@cabaretelifecoahing.com