Where is your career headed?  How about your personal relationships? Are you on track for where you want to be in 10 years?  Have you even thought about how you want your life to look and feel in 10 years?  With the fast pace of life, it can be easy to lose touch with yourself, especially when others depend on you, too.

We are constantly bombarded with the importance of giving of yourself, taking care of others, being cognizant of others’ feelings, holding down a job, providing for the family, making our managers look good, and trying our best to appear poised and in control on all fronts.   How often do you sit back and really think about who you are, where you want to go and what your goals are in life?

So many people are on autopilot going from one assignment or responsibility to the next without truly considering what it is they need in order to feel fulfilled.  It is important to stay in touch with yourself so that YOU can LEAD your life in the direction you want to go.  Don’t lose yourself in the journey – Find Yourself.  Here are 10 ways to help you get in touch with yourself and lead the life you were meant to live.

1. Trust (and follow) your intuition.

Do what feels right and don’t over think it or try to get logical and rationalize.  (Stay tuned: I will discuss how to know you are following your intuition in an upcoming blog.)

2. Go easy on yourself.

If you had a rough day think about why you perceived it as rough and whether there is anything you would change should a similar situation present itself.  Think about how you would console a good friend after they had a rough day and do that for yourself.

3. Put yourself (health/well-being) first.

It’s ok to use vacation time, take mental health days, and make the time to take care of yourself.  As you continue to do this, everything else will fall into place.  For example, if you take a class for an hour a week, everyone will get used to you being unavailable during that timeframe.  It will get easier the more you do it.

4. Be flexible and open to new trying new things.

Make the decision to change up your routine.  Try something new everyday.  The only constant in life is change and what made you happy yesterday may not make you happy tomorrow.

5. Don’t get caught up in the drama of others.

Colleagues talking about each other?  You don’t have to validate them.  Heck, you don’t even have to listen to them.  It will just cause you to lose focus on what you want and who you want to be.  It is ok to keep to yourself whenever you want to.

6. Live your truth (and follow your passion).

What do you look forward to doing with your time? What was it that got you excited a year ago? 5 years ago?  Make a date with yourself and just go out and f’n do it.  Was it taking a road trip?  Do it.  Was it being with those friends who made you feel real and good?  Go see them.  It doesn’t have to be a long hiatus, but do it.  Do it for yourself and do NOT feel guilty.  You will be a better person (friend, parent, employee, etc.) when you return. Here are some tips to following your passion.

7. Take a step back and look at the big picture.

Take the time to recognize the finiteness of the world around you.  Feel the world (your world) changing even as you read this.  With every breath there is one less that you will take in the remainder of your life – same goes for all those around you.  Notice the humanity, mortality, transient state of being we are all experiencing together.  Respect it.  Embrace it.  Think about how you can enjoy life more.

8. Don’t struggle with fitting-in or even try to fit in.

The gift you have to offer the world is unique to yourself.  If you try to hard to fit in or be liked by others you may lose touch with yourself along the way.  Letting our happiness ride on the thoughts, actions and opinions of others takes your power and control away from you and will likely let you down.   Be your brightest, accept yourself as you are and know that you are still learning.  People will come and go, but the way you treat yourself, the acceptance and love you have for yourself, is forever.

9. Keep in touch with your creativity.

If you like to draw, keep a sketch book around and touch it once a week, month, day.  If you like to do play an instrument keep it visible and play it for a half hour here and there (or more if you can make the time).  The goal here is to be thankful to yourself for making the time to do something for yourself, something you enjoy and will smile when you think about.

10. Acknowledge yourself and how you feel in all situations.

If it doesn’t feel right, than it is not right.  Make the time to assess where you are and where you want to go in your career, relationships, etc.  It is important to feel like you are going in the direction you want to go.  If you feel your grip on who you are start slipping, if you noticeably don’t feel yourself, then it is time to interrupt your routine. Stop and just be with yourself.     

Make a conscious effort to live your life now, so you do not look back later with regret, wondering where the time went and wishing you had done more to truly experience all that life has to offer.