Creating Your Dash - Intentionally Living The Life You Desire

That little dash in between the day you were born and the day you die tells the entire story of your life. Let that sink in for a moment. The fact is that there's two certainties in life: 1. You were born and 2. You will die. The uncertainty is what the story of your dash will be.

If you find yourself feeling confused about life and what the meaning is, ask somebody who's about to die. The most common answer they'll give is that life is too short to waste on being unhappy. I was speaking with a lady (we can call her Karen) that fought for two years but lost her battle to cancer, she had come to accept that her time was coming to an end soon. She was beautiful inside and out. I asked her what her biggest regret is and she smiled and said, "The time I wasted stressing out about insignificant things." I was fighting back the tears when her ten year old daughter walked by and gently touched Karen's arm. Karen placed her hand on her daughter's hand and continued to answer. "I was always rushing from work to home, didn't make time to be fully there for my kids or my husband, now my ex-husband. Everything was a constant blur for us. Days would fly by without notice, taken for granted, as if there'd always be a tomorrow. I'd yell all the time, like everything was the end of the world. When I was diagnosed, my world came to a sudden halt. Time, for the first time in my life, meant something to me. I realized that time was the one thing that I couldn't get back once it passed. After chemo treatments and all the days spent at the doctor's office, I was told that the treatment didn't work and basically that was that." At this point, she wasn't crying, but I was. She reached out and held my hand as she softly said, "What became important to me was enjoying the time I have left. I tell all three of my kids that when I go to Heaven, I'll be watching them and I want to see them enjoying their lives. I want them to appreciate time and make the most of it. Take chances, fall in love, go on vacations, and be kind and generous. Live your life like it may be the last chance you get to create the story of your dash." I asked her, "The dash?" She said, "The dash on headstones between the born on and died on dates, that dash is the story of your life and all that really matters in the end." Karen was forty six years old when she died. She is survived by her three children that were left with a lifetime's worth of happy memories of their mom.

I never took that dash for granted again. From that point forth, I intentionally live my life creating the story I desire my dash to tell. That dash is one of the greatest reasons that I became a Coach. I saw so many people just getting through their lives like zombies and I knew there had to be more than that, more than just waking up and surviving the day. From my own life and the life of my client's, I discovered and am still discovering daily how to make the most of that dash! Here are a few suggestions that you can immediately implement into your life that will absolutely without question guide you in creating the story of your dash.

Creating Your Dash - Intentionally Living The Life You Desire

1.   Don't sweat the small stuff- Learning to pick and choose your battles is incredibly liberating. Not every single thing needs to be an argument, a discussion, or even acknowledged. Before you react to anything in a snotty way, ask yourself if it's something that'll really matter in the long run. If the answer is no, let it go and move forward. The more you do this, the more you'll realize how absolutely unimportant most things are as well as how important other things are. In order to achieve this, you must recognize your own patterns of what ruffles your feathers and then intentionally ask yourself every single time if it's important enough to steal your happiness, even for a moment? Life is just too short to walk around pissed off at every little thing that doesn't go according to the way it played out in your mind. Let it go and move forward with your day. You can create a dash filled with a lifetime of negative attitude or you can fill it with joy...it's is a no brainer, right?

2.   Choose happiness - Everybody has circumstances that could justify them to wallow in their own woes me life, but for what? Happiness is not circumstantial, it is a choice. Creating your dash with happiness is really as simple as making the choice. Regardless of what's happening around you or directly in your life, it is up to you to intentionally choose to be happy. When you make the choice to be happy, it not only positively changes your life, it will create positive change to those that are close to you as well. Life is going to happen either way, so you can sink in circumstantial crap and use it as an excuse, or you choose happiness...as for me, I choose happiness every single time.

3.   Just do it - Stop putting off things that you want to do. Most great achievements and memories begin with feelings of fear of failure or the fear of rejection. It's normal to have those fears, but unacceptable to allow them to block you from putting your best foot forward. Wouldn't you rather create your dash with "I can't believe I actually did that" rather than "Damn, I should have done that!" Fear is just an emotion, and you are absolutely in control of your emotions...which means you are in control of your fears. Don't allow yourself to miss out on living the life you truly desire because you don't have the sack to take the risk. Fall in love. Start a business. Skydive. Swim with Sharks. Travel the World. Speak what's on your mind. Intentionally create your dash to be unique and awesome!

4.   Be grateful - A magical thing about gratitude is that the more you are grateful for, the more things come your way to be grateful for. If you still have a heartbeat (I'm guessing you do), you have plenty to be grateful for. Acknowledging what you are grateful for and intentionally opening yourself up to receive more to be grateful for will open up your heart, eyes, ears, and nose to finding more and more ways to show gratitude. Basically, everything in your life and not in your life is worthy of your gratitude. The family and friends that you have, your career, the choices you make to improve your life, the nature you get to see...every single thing! Becoming somebody that practices gratitude will allow you to fill your dash with joy and appreciation, leaving nothing on the table to regret.

5.   Love yourself - This is a major factor in making the most of your dash. Love yourself completely...flaws and all. Of course, we should all work relentlessly to improve ourselves, but along your journey, love yourself. The love for yourself should be unwavering. Regardless of your body shape, age, hair or lack of, the clothes you can afford to wear, your family tree...you are you and that's the most perfect person you can be. Your dash should be filled with moments of you feeling proud to be you, not wishing you were somebody else.

You weren't born just to survive, you were born to be alive and enjoy all of life's beauty and wonder. Push your limits as far and wide as possible (and then a little bit more). Today is a great day to begin intentionally creating your dash with amazing stories to pass down to your survivors. Now go be the shining star you were intended to be.

Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments. If you enjoyed this article, please like and share it. Make it a phenomenal day!

I specialize in Coaching successful and happy people that are ready for more! If you are ready to take your life from good to phenomenal, contact me to schedule a free 30 minute consultation.

Debbie Dickerson

Life and Business Strategist

ddickerson@tecoaching.com