Try this three step process.
Put your ideal day down on paper.
Include the smells and the sounds, what you’d see and taste. Include the texture of your day and how you’d feel. Don’t write what you think you’re supposed to want or do. Don’t edit out the things that “could never happen.” Let yourself dream and admit what your ideal day looks like.
Do you have many ideal days? Choose one and describe it in great detail. You can always do this practice again with a different ideal day.
Reflect on what you want.
After you craft your ideal day, read back over it and reflect on why you want those things in your life. What does each thing or the day as a whole tell you about your values or what really matters to you? What does it tell you about what you need more of?
An ideal day that takes place in Paris might tell you that you want to travel. Or it might mean that you want to reconnect with the younger you who studied there ages ago. Maybe the city means romance to you and you long for more of that in your life … or maybe you crave time to savor your cafe au lait instead of drinking coffee mindlessly as you run errands and ferry kids from place to place.
Find ways to honor your desires.
It’s easy to look at your ideal day and find a million reason you couldn’t have it—not enough money or time, it’s too hard to leave your family, you don’t know enough or have the skills … But as you get focused on what your ideal day really means to you, you can find ways to honor what you really want.
That might mean deciding to save up for and book a trip to Paris (using our previous example), but you could also honor that dream by visiting a museum to view French art and going out to a French restaurant. Or if you just need more “new” in your life, you could visit some place you’ve never been close to home. You could reach out to your roommate from Paris all those years ago. Or maybe you just need to cancel a meeting tomorrow morning so that you can sit in a cafe enjoying your coffee and watching the world go by.
How you honor your ideal day depends not on the details, but the meaning behind them.
Dare to dream. Then find a way to honor those dreams. What will you do this week to live up to your own ideals?
Happy writing,
Melanie
P.S. Excited about the idea of creating a more meaningful life? Download my free guide, 3 Steps to Having a Meaningful Life You Love to start designing your best life—a life with more energy, engagement, and clarity.