Fab Factor #6: Proactivity

Are You Drifting or Navigating?

846f76_b5efde38ad014a66a8c4817f405fe474Imagine your life as a boat. Are you drifting along at the whims of the breeze and the current or are you navigating your ship to get to your desired destination?

This analogy is a good representation of what it means to be proactive versus reactive in life. People who are proactive don’t wait for situations and circumstances to dictate their direction; instead, they create the circumstances that they need in order to live a FabYOUlous life.

In his highly acclaimed book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the late Stephen Covey, regards proactivity as one of the fundamental character traits of a successful person and defines proactivity as the act of taking charge of one’s own life. This ability to consciously choose the direction of your life is a key contributing factor when it comes to living your most FabYOUlous life; and yet, so many people struggle with this concept.

Take off that Mask!

Unless of course, it's part of your Halloween costume

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Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love coming up with fun costume ideas, gorging myself with candy and attending costume parties. I also cherish the wonderful childhood memories that I have of trick-or-treating with my brother and cousin in my grandparent’s neighborhood.

As a child, the only thing that I didn’t like about Halloween was the masks that we had to wear.

Fab Factor #4: Health

running girl

The mind and body are intrinsically connected so it makes sense that taking care of ourselves both above and below the neck leads to head-to-toe FabYOUlousness.

Being healthy doesn’t simply mean that we aren’t sick, it means that we are fully alive and experiencing life with vitality, love, gratitude and enthusiasm. This is much more easily accomplished if/when the body is well cared for and in good working condition.

When working to achieve and maintain good physical health, there are eight habits that if adopted, will lead to improved physical fitness and a stronger sense of FabYOUlousness.

Stop Swimming in Your Own Sh!t

10 Daily Disciplines for a Fab-YOU-lous Life

Stop Swimmingin Your OwnSh!tA FabYOUlous life doesn’t just happen. You can hope for it and dream about it as much as you want, but eventually, you will have to put in some work and apply some self-discipline if you truly want to experience life to its fullest.

When I was at the lowest point in my life (struggling in a destructive marriage and battling a vicious eating disorder) it took more energy than I could muster just to get out of bed and get dressed for the day. I felt completely hopeless and it seemed as though I had a dark cloud of misery that followed me around 24/7.

Create Space

Get Off the Hamster Wheel of Busyness

846f76_0c4555f25cc745408548247780f76d82Busyness. Why are we (and by we, I mean ME) so addicted to it?

Why do we feel like we have to constantly be busy as a way of proving our personal worth or justifying our right to exist?

We juggle careers, families, social obligations, volunteer work and a myriad of other things–all for the sake of feeling like we are “good enough” or in the hopes that others will take some kind of notice of our accomplishments. We feel as though being “busy” somehow proves just how important we are and we wear our exhaustion like it’s some kind of twisted badge of honor.

Why do we do this? What exactly do we get as a result of all of this busyness?

For me, the answer is exhaustion, burn out, frustration and overwhelm.

I am blessed to be a naturally high-energy person, and yet there are still times when I find myself wiped out (sometimes even to the point of physical illness) from going a few too many rounds on the hamster wheel of life. I’ve learned the hard way that burning the candle at both ends simply means that you burn out a whole lot faster. Fortunately, I’ve also learned (out of a desperate fight for self-preservation) that there are ways to combat this insidious culture of busyness. The sanity saving strategy that works best for me when things get a bit too chaotic is to step back and create space in six key areas of my life: my physical environment, my relationships, my emotional health, my thought-life, my finances and my spirituality.

By making the effort to create space in my life, I not only prevent the inevitable physical and emotional collapse that too much busyness precipitates; I also create an environment in which creativity, connection and serendipity can work together to bring about greater opportunities in my life. I am confident that the same will hold true for you.