New Goals and Emerging from Lost

The person speaking took some time off work to recharge and refocus, feeling lost. They gained a new understanding of self-authenticity in the context of Christianity, which gave them a new vision and purpose. They have a clear understanding of what they want in their relationships, spirituality, physical health, hobbies, finances, and lifestyle. However, they are unsure about their working life and whether they want to work overseas again. They want to explore all options and make creative and smart choices. They plan to brainstorm and consider how everything fits within their current constraints. When I decided to go on this, sort of take some time off work and recharge and refocus and get some perspective, I had an enormous sense of a sort of feeling lost, but I think when I, I mean obviously this new understanding regarding self-authenticity and how that's just put all the pieces of the puzzle together with me in the context of Christianity, that's given me a new vision and a new understanding of my life's purpose. It's still a question of applying that to what I actually want to do right here and now in my life, but one of the interesting things is that in most areas of my life I've actually got a really clear understanding of where I want to go. You know, I look at my relationship with my family, I know exactly where I want that to be and what I have to do. I look at my relationships with my friends and work colleagues and I know what I want those relationships to be and what I have to do. I know what I want in my love life and that's the ultimate thing, to obviously have that extraordinary marital relationship, but I'm also looking forward to meeting people along the way and having experiences and you know, living authentically and experiencing my life. So, in relationships I really know exactly what I want in terms of the spiritual side of life and I know what I want in terms of really living authentically and incorporating all these new techniques about being mindful and having a real spiritual sense to my life and living out the heart virtues and random acts of kindness and charity and all these things that just build into living a fully authentic, heart-centered, integrated life. And I'm very clear on how that works and how I'm enormously empowered to really give to others, to bring light into people as well. And I think the process of sort of finding myself in some ways, of finding a purpose has not been completed because it's a lifelong discovery, but the principles are there now and the penny's dropped. The moment of insight has been had and experienced after much suffering and then enlightenment and now it's a matter of actually bringing that practice into life, so I'm certainly entering a new spiritual phase where it's actually time for me to start acting and actually bringing light into people's lives. So relationally and spiritually I know exactly what I want. Physically, again, I've already been there and started this process. I've exercised every morning for the last nine months. I've learned some new things around yoga. Certainly want to incorporate some more meditation and I suppose the spiritual habits of giving appreciation and praying will have physical health benefits as well. And in my eating and sleeping, but certainly physically I know what I want. I've got some good habits in place and I really have a very firm set of authentic beliefs that I'm very clear about. In terms of my hobbies and passions, I really know what they are now. I love ideas. I love the world of movies and music and theatre and books. I love ideas and I love things that take me into the right side of my brain. Swimming and music and going on holidays and recharging and experiencing different cultures. So I really know myself there and know what I want. I know what I want to do financially, both in terms of investments and becoming financially independent, which will empower me to give so much more when I'm not tied to the noose of having to be a full-time employee. And I know my views on investment in terms of living humbly and managing money. They're authentic beliefs which really tie into who I am. So I really know who I am and I know some of the ideas around lifestyle and how we live in this world that has so much negative energy and how we actually have to design our lifestyle and actually be very conscious in the way we live day to day. Those across have had some new things added to them over the last few weeks as I understand more and some thoughts I've had in the back of the mind have become so clear. But they're all authentic beliefs. And now the last thing is the question of just my working life. And this is where it is tricky because there's so many things I've tried my hand to. I've got a bit of a broad skill set. There's lots of different options for me in terms of sales and commission-based roles and employee and analytical working behind the computer roles and lecturing, starting my own business, doing my own developments, and just looking at other business opportunities and other out-of-the-square opportunities like going overseas. So this is probably the area where I need to really, in most of the other areas of my life, I've got a pretty clear vision of where I authentically am at, what I want to do, how that ties into my life's purpose. But work is one where I need to do some real brainstorming and just think about it. Probably the other area where I need to do some thinking is whether I want to have another stint overseas. Working overseas and being a different culture and testing yourself in a different environment and being around new people is such an extraordinary experience. I love this window of opportunity. My sense is that I've got a lot of opportunities back in Perth as well. I've just got so much there with all my relationships and networks. It might be a good time to put in place these new authenticity principles in the environment I understand, and then have any option to go overseas later. That's my sense, but I want to explore that. I don't want to come to a judgement on that just yet. So I guess where I see myself being is I've really... When you think about how I've lived my adult life, almost, from the time I left university to the last 10-11 years, I really have explored. You look at the women I've been out with, and I've spent a year overseas, the different jobs I've tried. You know, I've got into the spiritual side of things and Christianity. I've looked at different things about how I look after myself and places to live. I really have explored, and I think I've found a lot of answers. I've found my authenticity. I should be really proud and happy about that. But as I've said, the missing link is really in the working life for me. What do I want to do? What's truly authentic? And it's not about finding my niche, finding that one great idea, that one thing that perfectly suits me. Because I haven't got that. I'm not a dork who's just a brilliant swimmer, or Woody Allen who's just a short-lived film director, and Tiger Wood who's done a fun golfing in his father. I haven't got that. Mine's going to be about bringing a broad skill set to things, dabbling in a few different things, being creative, taking calculated risks, working hard, building relationships with people both as an employee and as a business owner, doing both, continuing to develop my selling skills. It's going to be a real journey, and I think I'll get, I will achieve extraordinary things if I continue to be authentic. I make good choices, but creative choices and smart choices. Take calculated risks. And now's the time to just really do some brainstorming. I want to put the white hat on and look at every option, see how I feel about it. And tied in with that is the idea of living overseas again. How does that tie in with where I'm at now? As I said, my sense is I've just had this great insight with all the authenticity stuff, and to go back into the environment to understand where I can start kicking goals from day one might be a good idea, but I want to leave that open, and I certainly want to explore the idea of going overseas again, because even if it doesn't happen in this moment, just the thought process and the exploration will sort of provide a good grounding and seed for going back to that perhaps sometime in the future. So that's where I'm at in the planning. If it wasn't for the work stuff, if I had a job that I thought, well this is great for a couple of years and I could almost fly home now and maybe have one or two more days and then fly home and get back into it, but I just want to explore that. Now that I'm away, been through the course, got the time off, it's a good time to sort of white hat it and just go, well what is out there? What am I good at? What do I enjoy? Where are the opportunities? And how do I fit all of this, given the constraints of my life in terms of money and my current employment agreement and timing? So I want to really white hat it and get creative and say, what can I do? How do I be productive now in the best possible way? So that is what I should be thinking about in the next few days.