Oct 13, 2014

Live Intentionally

Live intentionally.

Are you living your life? Or just going through the motions? Awhile ago I went to Photo Field Trip. My goal when I went to was to expand my photography business knowledge, and maybe pick up on some new habits while shooting. I left with something entirely different. It was my first time away from the kids overnight since Søren was born so I was already in a vulnerable place, but being around so many talented, creative, and honest people had a huge impact on me. I walked away knowing that I would be different, my life would be different. My life would be mine.

I started questioning everything in my life. My core values remained the same, all centered around my family. But so much of everything else was up for grabs. I made plans to change up some things with my businesses so I’d be more fulfilled and happy with my work, and adjusted other areas of my life. I re-evaluated some toxic relationships, became a little more outgoing, and even made some new friends. The progress I made was refreshing. I felt good about being myself and the place I’m in.

Months go by and up until this point my thoughts of minimalism were more related to stuff, and less related to time. I still have stress from other factors and I don’t feel like I’m where I should be. There are so many good quotes about how quickly time goes by, or how each minute is different than the one before it, but they all say the same thing. Your time is yours, your life should be exactly what you want it to be. If you are not happy doing what you are currently doing, why not do something different?

Start small. Is there something you aren’t happy with and can easily change? Something small I do regularly is to unsubscribe from junk e-mail. It saves me from having to delete it next time. After you get a momentum rolling, you can start on larger items, subscription boxes, cooking more at home, setting goals for prioritizing blocks of your time. Have you always wanted to take an art class? A cooking class? Sign up! The more you begin to take control of your time the more you will get used to it, and the better you will become at it. Ask yourself, “Why?” before doing anything and you’ll become more justified in your actions. Do you want to do that because it makes you happy? Because it makes someone else happy? Will it improve your life or the life of those around you? Is it what you need right now? Will you be more fulfilled by performing this action? Slowly you’ll learn to question yourself before doing everything, and the bigger changes won’t seem to so daunting.

Good Read: An Intentional Life by Leo Babauta

Red Rock Canyon State Park
Red Rock Canyon State Park, California

What do you want to do differently with your time?

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[…] that scare me. I want to feel alive every single day, instead of just go through the motions. Living intentionally has been on my mind for awhile, so moving towards making every choice intentional is my end goal. […]

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I love this, I completely agree and it’s so uplifting. That’s one of my biggest issues is I do just go through the motions and rarely get to really just take a breath and go into everything with my heart.

That picture made me giggle, such a fab illustration on letting go. I totally agree with all of this. The little things can leave you feeling so free at the end of the day!

Katie <3

Ah I really needed to read this post tonight. Honestly right now I feel as if I have been just living life with nothing new happening and not really enjoying it. Sure I have moments of complete happiness but I just feel like I need to make some changes! I really want to move out of Arizona, back to Chicago where my family lives and work on being a health coach and blogger full time. I also want to volunteer at animal shelters and help make a difference! My boyfriend is flying out to Chicago next weekend for a job interview so my fingers are crossed that everything works out and we can move. It will be nice to feel like a new beginning and have a fresh start!

I have so much mom-guilt I haven’t even ever really thought about this! What a great thought though and a great message! I definitely don’t have enough time to myself, but if I did, I’m not sure I’d know what to do with it and that’s something I should think about! Thanks for sharing!

A big yes to this whole post! I’ve found that I’m in a similar place. I am determined to live a life I love and encourage others to do the same. So far, it’s going good! We only get one shot. There’s no reason to waste time on things that don’t fill us.

This line in your post said it all: “Your time is yours, your life should be exactly what you want it to be. “

I like hearing more about the Photo Field Trip. I just don’t think I am in a place to focus more on my photography, but you make it sound so intriguing.

I am looking to make more time for myself and put it towards the blog. When I get home from work and then sit in my office to blog, I feel incredibly guilty since I am not paying attention to my husband. I need to learn that it’s okay to do things for myself, too!

Absolutely perfect. I recently went through a similar train of thought and it lead me to realize I wasn’t happy or fulfilled with most of the decisions I had made in my life. My boyfriend felt the same and so we quit our jobs, sold our stuff and are traveling and blogging attempting to turn this into our life. Did your family notice change in you after you went through this realization?

Wow! That is a big change. Best of luck on your journey. I feel like I personally noticed a change when I started making more intentional decisions, and as a result I was happier and could focus more on making/keeping my family happy too.

I am loving this message. I so desperately needed this in my life right now. Definitely gives me something to think about!

I’m glad. Every big idea starts with a single thought. 🙂

I just started unsubscribing to junk mail and it has made my life so much easier. It’s something that I just didn’t take the time for before, but just taking a few seconds to do it makes a big difference. Thanks for this reminder to live intentionally!

Doesn’t it feel so liberating? And doing it via e-mail is SO easy.

Amazing blog post! I completely agree with you – we tend to please others instead of doing what we actually want to do. It’s important to focus on yourself and to take risks in life – saying yes to new opportunities might be difficult and scary at first but it can lead to amazing experiences.

I whole-heartedly agree to all of this. I felt selfish at first because I’ve always been first a mom/wife and then myself, but I felt so much happier as a whole and can be a better mom/wife because of it.

I love this! I would love to hear even more about how you’ve made changes. First of all, amazing picture above of you in front of the rocks. Second of all, I like the thought be be a minimalist in areas of our life outside of material things. Cutting the clutter doesn’t have to mean physical stuff I guess. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, I hope, that this Minimalism feature will be a Monday feature, because it totally gives an energy boost to the week. Thank you.

This is the most beautiful message, it’s something I really needed to hear on this Monday morning. It’s so easy to go through the motions and not think about why you’re living your life the way you are. I made the decision this year to make my motto “Fear a Boring Life”. There are things that are difficult and scary, but if they’ll make me happy and fulfilled in the end, it’s worth it to do them–make a move across the world, quit a job you hate, end a friendship that isn’t giving you joy. Thank you for this beautiful post!

The What’s In Between

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