Living A Life You Love
Loving the life you live
Are you living a life that you love? I mean really Love, with a capital L? Not one you think you should love, but one that you’re excited to wake up for in the morning. If your answer is no then you’re not alone. In my coaching practice many of the teachers I speak with feel the same way. They’re not happy with the direction their lives are going in, but they know that living a life they love is entirely achievable.
So many of us get caught up in the rat race – working for the weekend or vacations. In fact, many people take jobs with this lifestyle in mind. However, teaching is not a typical job, career, or profession.
We are called to be teachers. It is not a job that just anyone can do effectively. People choose teaching because they have a passion and connection to the education and enlightenment of the generations to come. Teachers teach because they believe they can make a difference.
Unfortunately, remembering why you chose to teach often isn’t at the forefront of your mind on Monday morning, when you want to put a beat-down on your alarm clock. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that as the terms and years go by, you’ve become less aware and less present as to why you’re willing to run yourself into the ground week after week.
When you aren’t present to your passion for what you do, what message does that send to your students? Whether you realize it or not, you’re teaching by example. Your students can see it and feel it.
I spent many years of my career disconnected from my love of teaching. Though I wouldn’t say I did a bad job, those years pale in comparison to what I was able to give my students once I reconnected with my passion. I was a different person entirely. Cynicism and resignation look very different from fulfillment and love.
While it’s important to “re-presence” yourself to your professional life’s raison d’être, who you are comprises a much larger picture. Like a diamond, you have many facets, and all are required to show your true brilliance. What does that mean? It means loving all aspects of your life. How do you do that? It’s pretty simple: do things that bring you great pleasure and joy. Of course, there are things that you must do that don’t bring you the greatest joy, but in these cases try adding one thing into your day that makes you happy. And try to find joy even in things you dislike.
Life is short and you never know what tomorrow holds for you, so stop putting off those things you’ve wanted to do. It’s important to what you’re teaching your students.
Making changes to your whole life can be daunting. There are essentially 12 key areas to life:
Career
Health/ well being
Personal growth
Spirituality
Contribution
Self-image
Finance/wealth
Social/ friends
Family
Fun/recreation
Love/romance
Environment
First, go down this list and rate your level of happiness in each area. One being, “Oh, please make the suffering stop!” and 10 being, “I feel a deep sense of love, connection, and joy in this area.”
Anything less than a 10 needs work. Choose one area to work on at a time. Ask yourself, “What needs to change and how can I change it?” When you ask questions like this you will always get an answer, but you must be patient. Give it the time and focus that it deserves.
As your career takes up such a large part of your life, it’s probably the best place to start. With this area I recommend doing something in addition to the above exercise. On a clean sheet of paper write (not type) why you do what you do and what it means to you. Make sure this is filled with your passion and emotions. Every night before you go to bed and in the morning read what you wrote.
All too often on our journey through life we lose our way, as we make concession after concession to avoid the pitfalls before us. The key isn’t to stop making concessions, but rather to continually be present to why you’re on the journey in the first place.
‘til next week!
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