When you look back over your life for the last.. let’s say 10 years - have you done everything you wanted to do?
Or did you hold yourself back? Not allowing yourself to indulge in certain purchases or experience because –
They were too much money
You didn’t think you were ready
You were way too busy
Or you simply didn’t know if you SHOULD?
Most people deny themselves of pleasure, deny themselves of things they want, because they simply don’t ALLOW themselves to have it. They are constantly denying themselves of what they want, what feels good.
But listen,
You DO have the money.
You ARE ready.
You AREN’T too busy.
What you don’t have, and what you NEED to have, is the ability to tell yourself YES. Practice saying yes to yourself over and over and over again.
Because YOU are important, your needs and your wants are important, your feelings and desires are important!
Let yourself indulge. I’m not saying to raid your savings account and go buy all kinds of shit you don’t need. I’m not saying to quit your job to lay on the couch watching “Gilmore Girls” all day. And I’m most definitely not saying to ignore all of your responsibilities and go run away.
What I AM saying is that you need to stop saying no to YOU.
When you feel that twinge in your gut at the thought of something, you need to stop ignoring it. Take action on that NOW. Your gut never, ever lies. If it’s telling you that you need to buy something, work with someone, travel somewhere, eat something, say something –
DO IT. Without thinking. Without second-guessing. Without over-analyzing.
Just say YES to the what and figure out the how later. The how always becomes apparent as soon as you allow yourself to trust your gut and take action immediately.
I’ve had a bunch of “trust your gut” moments over the last few days that I’ve been in Ireland, including –
- Going for a walk by myself in an area that was unfamiliar (my gut told me to do it, my head said it wasn’t safe). Benefit? Amazing photo ops, plus I found a great pizza place (that had vegan cheese!!!) that we ended up going to for dinner that night!
- Striking up a conversation with a stranger (my gut told me to do it, my head said it was a waste of time). Benefit? They told me about an awesome boat tour in the area that would be perfect with kids (we are going to do that tomorrow!).
- Buying a bunch of groceries that were “over-priced” simply because they looked good and I wanted them (my gut told me to do it, my mother-in-law said not to waste my money and to get the cheaper items instead). Benefit? DELICIOUS FOOD. Enough said.
- Buying the $30 umbrella instead of the $5 umbrella (my gut told me to do it, everyone around me said the $5 umbrella would be fine). Benefit? An umbrella that worked exceptionally well! (Sidenote: My husband bought the $5 umbrella for the kids, and I pinched my finger - which broke the skin and I started to BLEED - closing the damn thing for them.)
It’s amazing what incredible things can happen when you just allow yourself to trust your gut!
I remember when I hired my last coach for over $20,000. My gut said I had to do it, my head was like “fuck to the NO, that’s way too much money”! I had no idea where the money would come from (I only had enough for the first payment), but because my gut said YES, I knew I had to find a way to make it happen.
So I said yes, signed the contract so I couldn’t back out, and no more than 24 hours later, I signed on a new client of my own, covering my second payment.
The money continued to flow, I paid off my coach with ease, and learned so much from her that I know my investment was well worth it.
Thank you, Gut, for leading me in the right direction, as you always do. 🙂
Let’s just say that there are 3 people you need to pay attention to in life: yourself, your coach, and your GUT (okay, I know your gut isn’t a person, but you get what I mean).
Do that, and you will soar, my friend. I pinky promise.