Last night I had the privilege of going to see Rachel Hollis' documentary "Made for More". Rachel is the author of the best seller "Girl, Wash Your Face", as well as the creator of the "Rise" and "Rise Together" podcasts. I started listening to Rachel when I had three hours a day of drive time in order to receive my daily radiation treatments. As a side note, I absolutely cherished this time to listen to my playlists, listen to podcasts or talk with my friends or my dad, who often went along for moral support. Good memories...Anyway, I also read her book and found so much of what she had to say easily applicable to my life. We have experienced very different traumas in our lives, but had similar takeaways. Listening to her again last night, left me feeling inspired, but also concerned. Concerned that I'm not living my life in a way that allows me to "be exceptional". She makes the point that everyone deserves to "be exceptional' in any aspect of their life that they choose. Now obviously, my definition of exceptional and yours may differ, but that is completely ok! Maybe you want to be an exceptional mom, exceptional cook or an exceptional friend. Maybe you crave an exceptional relationship or exceptional career. The point is obviously that if you're feeling that one aspect of your life is lacking and you want it to be better...you deserve for it to be exceptional!! I'll be honest...after surviving something kind of horrific, I only want exceptional in everything!! Kind of a tall order, but she gave some ideas of what to focus on to help navigate the road to achieving the level of exceptional you desire.
1-Your Physical Environment: If your living space is messy and chaotic, your life is probably messy and chaotic. Your living space could mean your car, your home, your desk at work, just your room if you are sharing a home with others...whatever! Seeking to eliminate what doesn't fuel your soul and eliminating what seriously weighs you down is pivotal for your personal success. You can't be successful if your daily life is a mess...point taken.
2-Your Personal Environment: Meaning your body/health! I so agree with this! If your health and body aren't taken care of, you seriously have nothing. Unfortunately, I've had the experience of being unable to get out of an ICU bed and I know how hard I had to fight to regain strength and even the ability to walk. Nothing else could function as my body was shutting down and my organs were beginning to fail. Now this is obviously an extreme example, but even if it's something much simpler, you HAVE to take care of the temple that you are. Plain and simple. This doesn't necessarily mean you need to be the perfect weight or size, but rather be healthy and happy with yourself and what your body is capable of.
3-Community: We've all heard the saying that you are the combination of the 5 people you spend the most time with, but it's so true! We all probably need to reevaluate who influences us on a daily basis and determine if it's the type of influence that will make us a better person. Select people who will help you to grow. If you're the most positive person in the group, you need to find someone more positive. If you're the most ambitious person in the group, you need to find someone more ambitious. My takeaway...We need and deserve to continue to strive for better...for exceptional! Know your tribe, love them hard...but damn it, make sure they are helping you become a better person in the process!
4-Morning Routine: Ugh. This one I kind of love/kind of hate. I am NOT a morning person, but she recommends that having a successful day starts with a successful morning routine. Do you get up and rush and feel hurried? I'm guilty of this. You need to get up and take time to workout, meditate, pray, journal, whatever. I'm still deciding if this HAS to be done in the morning, because unless I'm energized about getting up for a sunrise run, I'm probably going to need as much sleep as possible because I'm totally a night owl. I guess this one will take some more work....
5-Habits: Analyze your habits. Which habits are good and which habits are bad. Habits can be broken! It takes some effort obviously, but think about when it occurs, why it occurs and ways to replace the undesired action. You've got this.
Final thoughts from my girls night out...I love it that I have friends willing to engage in this type of learning with me. I had one friend at the theater with me taking the experience in together. I had another friend 2 hours away watching the same movie at the same time and we were texting each other throughout!
Learning and growing together makes us and our tribe better. Love you girls...
Also, Rachel encourages us to drink lots and lots of water (duh, but oh so important), and create a killer "me" playlist. Done. Oh! and never be afraid to dance your way through life. Boom! -M