Life! By Design_ 6 Steps to an Extraordinary You - Laura Morton [16]
The wound on my leg, the reaction to the tetanus shot, and three days off from work turned out to be a wonderful gift that allowed me to be present with what I really wanted out of life.
When faced with big life questions, most people get stuck because they’re afraid to look deep inside themselves and face all of the baggage that holds them back. Instead, they sit around complaining, saying they don’t have the time to answer the five questions that could change their lives. Let me tell you something. Living By Design is not about having the time. It’s about making the time—and your life a priority.
Answering these questions for a second time helped me identify a bigger vision and future for myself. I didn’t even know I needed a change, but those couple of days became the next major turning point in my life.
I could have kept reading those five questions, scanning through them like the rest of the pages in my journals, but I didn’t. I used the questions to help me reflect on who I am, where I am, and what I am all about. I dug deep to find the answers that ultimately set me on the course that I am now on, which brought me here to you. If you doubt the power and process of living By Design in any way, the manifestation of that day is in your hands right now. That’s right. You are reading my book, the culmination of that vision.
Now that you know two of my biggest life wake-up calls, are you ready to get started on your own? When I take on new clients, I make it clear that I will not hold their hands and tell them that everything will be okay. And you, my reader, are no different. If you want someone to comfort and coddle you through life’s challenges, I suggest you talk to your mother, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, or best friend, or schnauzer, who will tell you whatever you want to hear so you feel better. That is not my role. My job is to help you face the hard truth, get honest, create a vision for your life, to stop living with excuses of why you “can’t,” and start living with the belief that “Yes, You Can!”
You picked up this book because somewhere along the way you realized you’re not satisfied. I doubt you bought this book because your life is already extraordinary but you think it can be even better. Am I right? You know something’s up with your relationship, health, finances, mindset, or emotions, but you just don’t know what to do to make things better. This book involves a tremendous amount of self-examining, but if you trust the process and participate in the evolution of living By Design, you will find your efforts greatly rewarded.
Think of your life as a giant flowing river. Some people choose to stand on the bank watching the river flow by. These people are so stuck in their lives that they’re not even paying attention to the beautiful river. Others spend all their time in the river trying to wade against the current, fighting the natural flow and struggling to stay afloat.
Living life By Design is the opposite of both. It is the acknowledgment that there’s a current that you have to go with, but you can either navigate around or learn to remove the occasional boulders that block, change, and disrupt your flow. Or, if for whatever reason you’re in the wrong river altogether, you can get out and find another one.
I’ve got a challenge for you right out of the gate. I am going to ask you to consider a lot of thoughtful questions about what hasn’t been working in your life. The questions I will ask are designed to resuscitate you. There is no shot of morphine at the end of this journey to ease the inevitable pain, but there is the promise that if you participate in the process, you will be awake, perhaps for the first time in your life, and well on your way to living your life By Design. Are you up for that?
There’s no judgment or “do it my way” philosophy here.
This is your life. Let’s just have it be By Design.