The holiday season is upon us and for many of us, that means that it is time to get BUSY. There is holiday baking, shopping, decorating, wrapping and crafting to do. Not to mention the normal chores that need to be done like laundry, grocery shopping and dusting. Throw in a few office parties, kid’s holiday programs and cookie exchanges and before you know it, the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas can turn into one big, tinsel-tangled ball of chaos and exhaustion.
Imagine 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.
They say that the only constant in life is change. Lately, I am discovering that to be very true. I have recently embarked upon a BIG change in my life and even though this particular change has been a very positive one for me and my family, it has still been a bit scary and a challenge to navigate.
The change that I am currently experiencing is a change in my career. Last month I made the decision to leave my position as the Executive Director for Hope Lives Breast Cancer Support Center and accept an Executive Directorship for the Northern Colorado Chapter of the American Red Cross.
While this change has most certainly been a beneficial one in terms of my career, income level and job satisfaction; it has not been an easy change for me to make and frankly…that surprised me a bit. I mean, why is change so hard–even when it is positive change?
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.
A 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.