How to live a life of FREEDOM

As Independence Day is approaching, I've been thinking about Freedom in all different areas of life. Here in the United States, we live in one of the most free and opportunity rich countries in the entire world. The world is our oyster and opportunities are available for anyone who wishes to work hard for them. That being said, I think there are many things that still hold us captive and keep us from living out our purpose. Here are a few things that may be holding you back, they hold me back too! If we can master these areas in our lives, we will be able to live lives of more clarity, purpose, and direction which will FREE us up to do what we are made to do! 

1. TRUST YOUR GUT

I think that many times, we KNOW the right decision we need to make, but outside influences keep us from doing what we know is best. Have you ever been caught between what you feel you truly want to do and what you think you should do? Sometimes, it's important to clean our house because we should do it, but thats not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about when we know in our hearts that we have to take a leap of faith, build a business, start a blog, apply for a new job, etc. but we don't because its risky and we feel like we should stay in our comfortable, stable life and not rock the boat. I'm speaking from my heart when I say that true freedom comes when you are spending your days doing something that makes your soul light on fire. No stability or predicability in the world will be able to out-weigh that type of creative freedom and passion! 

2. LET GO

We all have something we need help letting go of. Maybe its a negative influence or an unhealthy relationship. It could also be the fear of what others may think of you. Maybe you need to let go of your ego, which is keeping you in a prideful position and unable to experience any type of personal growth. Many people need to let go of insecurities and expectations which create a permanent negative mindset for themselves. For me, letting go of friendships and negative relationships is something that has been the hardest for me. Letting go doesn't mean you're giving up, it means you are starting over. Letting go of something means that you are creating space for something new. 

3. PEOPLE PLEASING MAKES YOU A SLAVE TO PEOPLE

It sounds pretty obvious, but you will never be able to experience more freedom in your life when you are living your life to please others. I HATE disappointing people or letting anyone down. I also HATE having to say "no" to anything. #REALTALKWITHLO: My first year living in Hawaii was hard for me to follow my dreams with this blog because I was so worried about making new friends and pleasing others. I would drop everything I was doing to go hangout with a friend, and I let all my personal goals & aspirations lay to the way-side. I had to choose to make myself & my goals a priority and fit outside influences in my life around that. Of course I still put my close family and friends pretty much before anything, but having the mindset that my dreams MATTER, has changed everything for me. 

4. DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF

I'm speaking to myself here because this is something I am personally working on. When you limit yourself, consciously or unconsciously, you put a cap on your success. I am constantly fighting with feeling undeserving of success. I don't know why I feel this way but I have always felt that I am not deserving of true success and happiness. It's a horribly negative mindset and LIE that I have been believing that I am working on letting go of. YOU ARE WORTHY FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS AND BEING SUCCESSFUL!!!! Don't limit the amount of impact you can have on the world. Keep doing your thing and keep making your goals bigger and bigger! True freedom comes when you truly believe that you can achieve ANYTHING! 

5. CONTINUE TO GROW

I love this quote, "If you aren't growing, your dying." This is SO TRUE. If you feel stagnant in your career, relationships, or in any area, it's probably because you aren't intentionally focussing on personal development. Personal development has been SO HUGE in my personal success and ambitions and it truly is the missing link for so many people who want to take their lives to the next level but they aren't sure how. We have SO much knowledge at our fingertips, we should be hungry for growth in all areas! 

I hope these tips help you stay focussed on your goals, re-priotize what's important, and help you live a life of FREEDOM in all areas! I would love to know which tip spoke out to you most! 

and here are some of my all-time favorite personal development books...

I hope you all have an amazing 4th of July!!! 

xo,

Lo

10 Easy Ways to Practice Self-Care

Hey, friends! Today I want to talk a little bit more about self-care, why it's important, and how to easily implement it into your daily routine! The topic of "self-care" is really popular right now and for good reason, it is so important to take care of yourself! In this age of hustle and bustle and the glorification of "busyness", it's so important to not lose sight on the most important thing, your health. 

From experience, I have learned that I can only love and serve others if I have loved myself first. This is not in a selfish way AT ALL, but it's in a way of treating myself with love and care so that I can love and care for others fully! 

I am naturally a people pleaser and I HATE saying "no" and so that is the hardest part for me in practicing self-care. I also love my people a lot. My family and my friends have my whole heart and when they need me, I will legitimately put my entire life aside to be there for them. I know that this is a good quality, but I have learned that I need to create healthy boundaries around my heart because oftentimes, I will take responsibility for things I shouldn't take responsibility for. I will also take in the emotions of those I love. If a loved one is hurting, I am hurting. It can make for an emotional roller coaster for me and so I have been learning how to love others in a way that is authentic but not debilitating to my emotions. I'm not sure if that makes sense to any of you but this is just something I am currently learning about myself in this season of life and so maybe some of you can relate! 

Anyways, back to self-care... I want make self-care simple. Self-care doesn't have to be an extensive list of to-do's, expensive, or extremely time consuming. Self-care can be 15 minutes of reading your favorite book or a five minute walk around the block. This week I am challenging myself to practice self-care in the form of unplugging. I know how freeing it can be to log-off Instagram or Facebook for a bit and so the week my goal is to "unplug" a couple hours a day. This may not sound like much for many of you, but for someone who works online, this can be life changing! 

I made this list of ways you can practice simple forms of self-care. I hope that it resonates with you and encourages you to spend some moments for yourself each and every day! 

Xo,

Lo