On Conscious Lifestyle Design - Create The Life YOU Want
As someone who considers myself a digital nomad, as well as a mental health or behavioral consultant, I am always interested in how people either consciously or unconsciously develop their lifestyles.
Many people follow the old, well-established path of applying to college, maybe grad school afterward, finding a spouse and getting married, then buying a house and raising children.
This lifestyle model seems to be based on the old middle-class ideal, at least here in the United States.
The problem with that traditional lifestyle model is that for many, it was never obtainable in the first place; due to being born into poverty, poor parenting or any number of medical, social-economic factors that kept people out of that paradigm.
At the same time, there were people who never really wanted that lifestyle to begin with; they used to be labeled: spinsters, hermits, lifelong bachelors, etc.
Finally, that model is no longer the ideal for many, especially the millennials.
Many of them are looking at the burden of college debt and traditional marriage as failing institutions that will not fulfill them.
National economies are no longer as stable as they once were and many live with the anxiety of never having a steady paycheck or benefits.
As for me, I never really thought that much about conscious lifestyle design until recently.
For much of my adult life, I followed the path of the middle-class ideal; I went to school, tried different careers, even was married for a while.
It wasn't until after my marriage was over and I was working a job that I did not enjoy in my field that I began to question the path I was on.
Why should I be married...why own a house and stay in one location for years and years...why should working in the same field for twenty-five years be a good thing?
To quote Robert Heinlein: "Specialization is for insects." And so I began to question the long-held beliefs and values imparted to me by my environment.
For the past year, I have consciously chosen to live a minimalist lifestyle, to only take on work I would enjoy and allow me to express a certain amount of creativity.
I still struggle with issues like procrastination and letting go of things I cannot control but I find that these issues don't have as much power over me as they used too, especially thanks to some form of daily meditation.
By choosing how exactly I want to live; not based on cultural or societal norms, I am finding a kind of peace that I have never known.
A part of me now understands what the rebels and iconoclasts throughout history were attempting to obtain.
Do you live a conscious lifestyle?
You've received an upvote from #TheUnmentionables - a SteemIt community full of members who like to kick ass, take names, and occasionally do it wearing (or forgetting to wear) our unmentionables...
Please upvote this comment so we can help our members grow faster!
This is the subject of one of my uncompleted books on my laptop, as it needs to be taught to people as they just don't seem to think there is an alternative, they just go blindly into life and do as society expects.
At some point in the near future, when I can show something for it, I plan to go into my kids' school on one of the "what do the parents do" days and make sure at least a few know they don't have to choose traditional paths if they don't want to. If they do, by all means, go for it.
It is so so important to focus on what you actually want to build a meaningful life for yourself. Sadly, this is soemthing never taught to us so we keep obeying the rules and norms set by our society. Although, I am married and happy with my husband and son, I do wish I had thought more about what I truly wanted than to just think I wanted what the society wanted me to do- study, get married, have a child and raise him. Fortunately, my husband and realize how important it is to have meaningful personal goals and support each other in that so what I couldn't have when I was 20, I can start working on it now. Really liked your post! Good job.
tip!
Sorry, the tip is higher then your deposit.
You can check your balance by sending 0.001 SBD to @tipu with memo: balance
(the minimal tip is 0.1 SBD)