These past few months I have been thinking a lot about my life, my life before, my life at the moment, and my life in the future. I feel constantly stressed (about work, money, and life in general) and grumpy (of course I'm grumpy when I'm constantly stressed). I feel STUCK!
I asked myself: Is this the life you want to live for the rest of your life?
Of course not.
But what I can do to change it?
While I was searching for my answers on the Internet (of course, the Internet has all the answers in the Universe), I come across some videos about Intentional Living, which intrigued me and really clicked with me somehow at an emotional level.
That's why we are here today.
What is Intentional Living?
Intentional Living, in essence, is to live our life with more intention and purpose. We are more mindful about the choices that we make in our daily lives so that we are happier and feel more abundant.
For the past 20 years, I’ve been chasing a version of myself, to be successful, to have money, to have a family, and a career. I always want to work fast, be productive, climbing corporate ladders.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still proud of the progress I’ve made and the things I’ve achieved. But I'm living for success that's defined by society. I'm constantly stressed about how to be better, how to get a better job, and how to achieve what other people have achieved. I'm never satisfied.
Abundant is not a word in my dictionary.
Intentional Living is to turn my attention inward, reflect and discover what my real purpose is. what makes me happy? I don't have an answer yet but I'm excited to find out.
Misconceptions about Intentional living
There are some misconceptions about Intentional Living, which I confess, I had them too when I first learned about it.
You have to be a minimalist and live a frugal life to live intentionally.
A lot of content about Intentional Living on the Internet do focus on frugal living and minimalism, which is completely fine. But that's only one side of Intentional Living.
There are no rules in intentional living. The only mission is to find your intention and purpose. But from all the videos that I watch, people that are living intentionally do find happiness without all the material stuff. So minimalism is more of a by-product of intentional living, not a requirement. I am not a minimalist, and I'm not going to label myself that just for the sake of it. I just want to walk in the direction and see where the path takes me.
2. Intentional Living means you have to let go of all ambition and live a slow life doing all the gardening and stuff.
This is also not true. Intentional Living is about finding your purpose and having more freedom in doing what you love. You Can continue to love working, or not.
I am a workaholic so not working is definitely not gonna bring me more joy. But I do want to find more freedom to choose the work that I enjoy doing and less of the work that I don't like.
3. You have to be deeply religious to live intentionally.
Again, There's no requirement for Intentional Living. It's a choice you make to find more happiness in your life.
I'm not a religious person, and I probably won't be, but that's not going to stop me from finding freedom and happiness.
Can you practice Intentional Living?
Well, everyone can practice Intentional Living. and Everyone will find their unique way of Intentional Living.
Notice that I use the word " practice” because Intentional Living is a process, a journey. You might not find perfection in it, but that's fine. Actually, one of the steps to starting Intentional Living is to accept the imperfection in your life.
Let go of the expectations set by society and other people.
As you grow, your intention may change as well. It's so much like yoga, It's a practice, not a competition. You can all practice at your own pace without the judgment of others.
So what do you think about Intentional Living? Is it something that you are already practicing or does it intrigue your interest? If you are interested in video content, you can also watch this on my YouTube Channel:
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