Actualise the life you deserve

We haven’t got it all figured out quite yet…

We may have come a long way, learnt a lot, and documented what we can for others, but there is still so much to discover and improve. This is just one average person’s attempt to shine a light on why so many of us feel like we don’t yet have the life that we feel we deserve.

Moreover, it is about using your unique mix of faculties, skills talents and experiences to develop and forge a way towards a life you can envision with purpose and positive impact.

Crisis, epiphany and resolution

Like many people during the COVID-19 crisis, I had an epiphany. I happened to read a book by an ex-colleague that resonated with me and forced me to consider my legacy to my young daughter and all the generations to come.

Ingrid Washinawatok was a leader of the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin, she famously recounted the practices of the elders there. Given a decision that the tribe would have to make, they would envision the faces of seven generations in the future looking at them from earth to consider what was the best course of action. They would look at them holding them as stewards for that future.

I hadn’t considered such stewardship or consideration of the impact on the future in thinking of my decisions in life. I made a commitment to myself that I would make a positive impact on the world with the time I have left.

I started a journey.

This newsletter is the journey, each post is a breadcrumb on this adventure towards that life.

The hope is that you will find this journey easier and encounter fewer dead ends, by reading about my mistakes and wrong turns.

I certainly do not have it figured out yet

On this path, I will need feedback to challenge my assumptions, so I invite you to get involved. This newsletter will contain elements of journaling, self-coaching, and therapy, along with a smattering of practical advice and actionable insights. I hope to tell the odd story or two!

It is likely that we will explore philosophy, self-improvement, sport, flow state, sustainability and work-life balance together. Hopefully, we will tackle some more difficult subjects like limiting beliefs, mortality, sickness, disability and intimacy, but that will depend on how brave I’m feeling.

I am sure you will have as much to contribute (if not more than me).

So if you’re a curious person and keen to learn, or if you are an expert in one of these fields, then please tag along. In my experience adventures are best had in groups!

Setting expectations

Like most people, I am busy, uncomfortably busy at times, which is another reason I have started on this adventure. So to be clear and not put too much pressure on myself, I intend to post monthly. I have a plan for the next six months or so of content, but if I find that I am enjoying it and it is resonating with readers I may increase the frequency.

In the short term, I do not intend to profit from this, and my genuine intention is to document my progress, provide insights and help others on their journey. However, in the future, there may be a commercial element to this work, but I think it is unlikely that my future self would consider a paid newsletter to be the medium for this.

Please follow along, and enjoy my little wins as well as massive failures.

I’m not precious, so feel free to rib me and show me the errors of my way.

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