While a lot of these self-care and mental health exercises helped me get to this point, I realized that a lot of the activities such as gratitude journaling, journaling, and even therapy mainly focus on the past and present struggles. I started asking myself the bigger question: “How can I set myself up to have long-term well-being? For the Future?” In pursuit to answer this question, I created a framework.
You may have read a book or two focused on personal growth. Maybe you’re the type that uses to-do lists, calendars, or some sort of organization tool. And you may have done some sort of future-looking exercise where you envision what your future self can be like. A lot of these resources are great, and it’s true that they can help you live the life you want, but there’s one thing that’s missing from all of them.
The progress I've made since I started Kurative Co. has been slower than expected. It's partly intentional, but mostly not. But a few months after my public launch, the growth slowed drastically. Over time, I felt like I was speaking to an empty room. I’ll be honest, I felt so alone in my struggles on multiple occasions. 😣
Whether it’s a fellow co-worker, another artist, or even a sibling, we typically compare ourselves and our accomplishments with someone else’s. We tend to diminish our growth because we feel they’re not as good as other’s. Instead, we should not view our peers as competitors, but as fellow community members. I share important lessons on how to break away the comparison trap.
Self-sabotaging mindsets such as fear of failure, self-doubt, or comparing ourselves to others keep us from achieving what we want to achieve and be who we want to be. Mental hurdles will always be there, but it’s our job to get past them. To live an intentional life requires different mindset shifts.
Your current identity SHOULD NOT define the rest of your life. You're allowed to break away from your current identity that doesn’t serve you anymore. Instead of thinking that changing our identities will be a wasteful part of our lives, we can see it as something that helped us get to where we are now. We can view our identity to fit the purpose or mission we’re trying to pursue.
Society creates this illusion that the more we have in life, the better our life will be. Instead, we can focus on the lifestyle that we want to live based on our purpose and values. You’ll realize that you probably won’t need as much as you think. Once you have decided what kind of lifestyle you want, you'll know how much you need for any particular thing.
