01 — Live mindfully

One of the scariest parts of intentional living, mindful living, can be sitting in the uncomfortable. Giving yourself space to not only acknowledge the whole spectrum of emotions, but also to feel them. So often we are inclined to push them away, deal with them later (or not at all), and put on a happy face, but doing so is a tragic disservice to our mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. By taking small, consistent steps, it is absolutely possible to become more present in each moment and give space to all of those messy, complicated, beautiful feelings that life can bring.

02 — Meet yourself where you are

“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” When life gets chaotic or stressful, overwhelm is usually not far behind. Too many things happening at once, feeling ill-equipped to manage any one thing, let alone all of the things. In those moments, we tend to get caught up in focusing on the whole picture, and then beat ourselves up for not being able to get it all done right now. We tend to expect the best performance out of ourselves every single day, especially on the toughest days. There is peace in embracing the fact that your best and the best are two different things, and only one of those is consistently attainable. Instead of fixating on the whole elephant that you can’t possibly manage all at once, narrow that focus to just the bite in front of you. Little by little, one bite at a time, you’ll get through it.

03 — Find your purpose, feed your soul

Why are you here? What drives you to get out of bed, to keep fighting through your toughest days? For some it is faith in a Higher Power, or family, or self-actualization that make the storms of life worth enduring. Without understanding your deepest motivator, it can be very difficult to remain grounded when that next storm comes around. We all need to take time to not only identify our why, but also consistently cultivate it, so that it is deeply rooted in our soul for the times we need to depend on it most.