It’s Time to Live a More Purposeful Life

Something happened between the release of my book Adventures for You Soul and The Self-Love Experiment. I fell in to the trap of the industry. It wasn’t by design, it wasn’t my agent or publisher putting these demands on me, it was me, only me. I became obsessed with trying to reach more people and sell more books, not necessarily for the money (at least I told myself that) but because I wanted to make the largest impact possible.

Over the past year I’ve realized I’ve been putting extraordinary demands on myself. I walked around for years a tight ball of frustration, constantly obsessing about my mission. Was I reaching enough people, could I do more to help others? More social media followers, more book sales, more speaking events, more people—it never ended. And no matter what, it never felt like it was enough. I didn’t realize it, but I had fallen victim to the allure of “success.” I would talk to my friends and family, and they would say, “You are already successful, you are already helping people,” but it was like talking to a child who has yet to learn the full range of words. I couldn’t hear them,; their confirmation was foreign to me.

This way of living, focusing on success by having more money, more followers, more of anything is pretty typical, especially in America. So many are chasing. But we have to ask ourselves, is this really what makes a good life? Is this really living with purpose? Because when I got honest with myself I realized I was a ball of angst not because I didn’t have what I thought I wanted — more, but because I was out of alignment with my true self. My authentic self doesn’t care about that; she just wants to be happy and at peace. She wants to be able to create and do what she loves for a living, which she’s already doing. You see our ego tricks us into thinking what we have isn’t enough. But if we get honest and let go of chasing happiness, we can see it is already here.

At the end of our life, the money, the accolades, the sales and followers, the things we spend so many years chasing, they really don’t mean anything to our own truth or worth. The real human experience is to feel passion and live with purpose. The true us wants understanding and compassion; we want to feel like we matter. The fancy job titles, money, and social media followers give us a false sense of that. They are simply smoke in mirrors.

This way of living, needing and wanting more becomes not ever enough.

I don’t want to live this way!

As we close down 2017, I am committed to being more balanced within myself.

I am no longer going to care, or worry, or focus on numbers on any platform. Instead I am going to focus inward on being authentic and in alignment with my true self. I will stop trying to do what the world wants of me, and instead do what I want within the world.

I want to live my life fully and be present in each moment.

I want to be proud of my creative projects and celebrate each moment in the journey.

I want to be inspired by humanity and laugh with wonder as I play with the world.

I want to live richly and deeply touching people in uplifting ways by my authenticity not force.

Will you join me in this wonder?

Ask yourself what do you want for yourself in the New Year. What is most important to you?

In the spirit of being true to myself there are some changes happening with Play With the World and my weekly messages. For the past five years, I’ve released a new video every week and an accompanying blog. It brought me incredible joy in the beginning, but over the past few months it’s felt like a routine, something I have to do to stay relevant. I want to be true to myself so I can deliver the best content to you. So as we enter into 2018, you can expect fewer videos from me but more quality. I will share messages when inspiration strikes. I’m also going to dive deeper into my podcast The Joy Seeker Project, and sharing audio lessons you can subscribe here.

I am growing, and I know you are too. And if we do what we used to in the new year, we will soon see it won’t work because we’ve outgrown it. We have to allow ourselves to grow and change.

Releasing old patterns and letting go of what no longer resonates with you is the key to living a purposeful life.

Because when we release the old, there is a wide invitation for the new. Trust the process and open yourself up to possibilities.

I declare 2018 the year of authenticity.

Let’s be more real with ourselves.
Let’s pull out our bucket lists, revise update and live them.
Let’s become joy seekers.

A giant of mine for the past 20 years has been to live aboard for at least a year traveling, writing and working from other countries, which is why in March; I will be leaving America, to go live around the world. I will be writing and creating and coaching from all corners of the globe, starting in Central America, then Europe, then Southeast Asia.

We will dive deeper into living a purposeful and rich rewarding life. It will be amazing what we experience when we let ourselves grow into our potential. I want to thank you so much for being here and being part of Play With the World.

It is an honor to guide, support, and be with you on this incredible journey. As we close down 2017, here are three smart ways to help you live a more purposeful life:

Redefine Success

We live in a society, especially in America, where success equals more money, more followers, more recognition. We think our job titles or how much we achieve provides our value, but true success has nothing to do with the amount of money in your bank account or how many people admire you on social media. Recently, I sat down to redefine what success means to me. I invite you to do the same. Because the truth is, if you are growing and living, laughing and loving, you are leading a successful life. If you feel connected to your self and are aligned with your source

Honor and Trust Your Own Path

How often do you compare yourself to others? Most of us have a running dialogue of how we aren’t good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, rich enough, etc. But I declare no more comparing. This means I will no longer compare myself to others, for no one else is on my exact path. The same goes for you: no one is on the same journey you are, so start to honor your path and trust yourself more. Stop looking outside of yourself and live your truth by being more you. Because the more you that you show, the more your life will flow.

Ask Deeper Questions Often

We’re living in a time when we don’t ask ourselves a lot of questions. Instead of worrying about the daily tasks, let’s go deeper into our life and get to the heart of our matter.

Here are 10 questions to ask yourself before the new year:

Am I who I want to be?
What anger am I holding on to?
Do I worry too much about what other people think?
Am I living where I want to live?
What do I really want to do with my life?
What am I avoiding or afraid to look at?
Do I love myself?
How do I want to be remembered?
What’s something I’ve always wanted to do but haven’t given myself permission to?
What really matters to me?I wish you a happy new year.I would love to hear form you, what living with more purpose means to you? Leave in the comments how you will make 2018 the year of true you.