Write | Inspire | Dream

In one year, my entire life has changed. Every aspect of who I was has grown into a stronger, happier, and more optimistic version of who I am today. Although I still face my challenges and hard days, my life has never felt brighter and on a more true path to the success and lifestyle I desire. The Intentional Living changes I have made and continue to make have impacted my life in the most profound ways. At its very core, my intentional life has brought me unbelievable mindset shifts that have given me the space to see I am worthy of all of the incredible success and happiness I desire for my future self. I have never in my life felt more aligned with myself. By unapologetically following my dreams, I have grown into the strong, courageous, and inspired woman I have always wanted to be.

So, today on La.Rue, I’d like to share that journey with you. My goal here and on the podcast is always to be honest and transparent with everyone that follows me. With that being said, I’d also like to share with you some of the struggles I’ve faced in the last year—how both my difficult and excellent days have made me more resilient in life. By sharing this journey with you, in its full honesty, I hope to show you the true impact living intentionally can have on your life, mindset, and success. This last year has been nothing short of incredible. I’ve reached and exceeded goals, I’ve challenged myself, and most importantly, I have grown. By stepping into a stronger relationship with myself, I have given myself the opportunity for true happiness and success.

The Beginning of My Journey

When I first began leaning into this new lifestyle, I had no idea what it would lead to. If you listened to my first episode of Do the Damn Thing, you know that it was a sudden epiphany that had me changing my lifestyle. I soon realized that whether it was a sudden decision or a thought-out plan to change your life, it was the decision itself that was important. The first step in creating great change in our lives is acknowledging that change is needed. We have to step aside from our feelings, insecurities, and ego to acknowledge where we may have fallen short of what we desire. For me, that meant acknowledging some of my greatest insecurities and attempting to find ways to address them and move forward. Intentional Living has a great deal to do with being very vulnerable and honest with yourself.

Once we can be honest and vulnerable with ourselves, a false lens comes off the viewpoint of our lives, and we see things a little more clearly. We’re able to be more honest with ourselves about our intentions for our life path. So, when I began redesigning my lifestyle, my first step was taking back the control I had given up. Intentional Living is all about having and maintaining the control in your life; BUT, a parallel willingness to trust in the process and unfolding the universe has planned for you. When we have control of our lives, thoughts, and mindset, we can see very clearly our true desires and begin working towards and manifesting that life—which is precisely what I did. I decided to work on letting go of my insecurites, fear of judgment, and of failing, and I took control of my life.

Taking Back the Control

I learned throughout this journey that our fear of doing this, to take control, stems from our fear of moving beyond our comfort zones. We fear being vulnerable to ourselves and in front of others because we know it’s not where we’re comfortable. Security, safety, comfortability, these are all things we desire. We think that chasing our wildest dreams means we can’t be safe. So, to stay safe, we push our dreams off to the side and often settle. The fundamental first step in moving beyond this and pushing yourself forward is shifting your mindset. To succeed, we have to reach a place where we fully and wholeheartedly believe we are worthy of our dreams. To do this, we must take back control and add a great deal of intentionality into our lives.

My bad days often consist of my insecurity and fear of letting go of my comfortability. I was comfortable not showing up on social media. I was comfortable not being vulnerable with everyone and showing my true dreams. To reach success meant moving beyond those fears, putting aside my insecurites, and being unapologetically myself. I decided that if people were going to judge me (which will happen no matter what I do), I might as well be the happiest version of myself following my greatest dreams. The difficult days still come where insecurity and question seep in. But I work on mindset exercises and manifestations techniques to work beyond the self-doubt.

My Life Today

When the questions interrupt, like: Can I do this? Do I deserve my dreams? Have I worked hard enough? I look to my strong days which have been filled with confidence, impressive productivity, and exceptional optimism. So, how have I found the medium? It’s naive to think that any lifestyle will take away every single bad day; they will happen. But, it’s about the approach to getting through them that is critical to our mindset development. When I get to a tough day or even a tough week, I remind myself of all I’ve done to get to that very moment. I’ve said before that I think we can often become consumed with our future that we fall short of recognizing our past and present.

So when I reach a difficult day, I offer little emotional reminders to have compassion for myself. I remind myself to have gratitude and recognize all I’ve done and how hard I’ve worked to get here. I think I’m beginning to realize that it’s not a question of “do I deserve my dreams?” but a matter of continuing to put in the work to reach them. I’ve realized that having patience for the things we desire most is essential to reaching success. As long as we believe in ourselves and trust the process, the universe will always meet us halfway. As I continue my Intentional Living journey and assist others in beginning and continuing their own, I’ll continue to publish content that invites you to examine changes necessary in your life to reach success. If you’re interested in learning more about the La.Rue Lifestyle Coaching Suite, contact me for details, or head over to the coaching page and begin making your Intentional Living changes today to achieve your dreams.