THE SECRET TO LIFE FULFILLMENT
In our 20s, we chase the career path to achieve a slice of the American dream. In our 30s, we think about settling down and starting a family. In our 40s, we have enough experience to make strategic, pivotal decisions in our current life path that impact the final destination. In our 50s, we count down to retirement, and in our 60s and 70s, we enjoy the good life only to face the looming inevitable.
This is the typical, western circle of life. But does it have to be?
When I sailed past my 45th year on planet earth, I had the opportunity to remove myself from my day-to-day reality for 7 months. I traveled with my husband, a successful Hollywood TV First Assistant Director, on a filming project that filmed in Prague, Morocco, and remote parts of Western Sahara. This life changing experience allowed me to truly grasp the seasons of life and common emotional patterns most people go through in each stage. It also allowed me to reflect on my first 45 years, what brought me to where I am, and what pivotal decisions I would choose to make at this critical juncture point in time.
Living in remote parts of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains for months on end was an emotional roller coaster to say the least. There were days when I watched the village women wash clothes in the river that made me so grateful for the modern conveniences we have in the western world, and yet there was something inviting and intriguing about going back to the simple life–without cell phones, iPads, traffic jams, and a calendar full of meetings. The food was amazing, and the local people were so welcoming. But while my husband worked 16 hours a day in intense heat, cold, and wind storms, I found myself alone in a culture where I couldn’t leave our small hotel room without a male companion/guard even to take a 20 minute walk. I was in near complete solitude. But in it I found bliss.
Solitude. If you haven’t experienced it for a period of time, I highly recommend it. Whether it’s through a meditation retreat or any place where you have a massive amount of time alone, inspired isolation is life changing. I can tell you from personal experience that if you really give yourself the time and space to welcome stillness, you will gain so much clarity on your life, the people in it (who you want to spend your time with, and who you don’t), and I promise you will come out of the experience a changed person.
There were days that I found myself wanting to walk down to the river and help the women wash their clothes and blankets. Was it that I wanted human companionship that badly? I realized that I just wanted to help. I wanted to be of service and make their days a little better by having one extra set of hands to speed up their daily chores. I wanted to feel like I made an impact on other people’s lives, and I wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment for my own day beyond reading a book, answering a few emails, and working with 1-2 clients in the USA via ZOOM. I wanted to feel a sense of connection, progress, and contribution, even without monetary gain or objective reward.
If you have been reading closely, you have figured it out by now: when you remove the distractions of money, technology, and the daily grind from your world, you discover your true self and what makes us human beings “tick”.
We all know people who have a lot of money and aren’t happy. And we all know people who feel like they don’t have any time. (But it is not that they don’t have time. It is that the time they have is not being spent in meaningful ways.) Let’s be honest with each other, we all have the same 24 hours in a day.
I have been back in the USA for 9 months, and my mission is crystal clear. It is my mission and duty to help people build the life of their dreams. It is my duty to help others gain the clarity that I did living in the Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert for 3 months. It is my joy to propel others to build a financial foundation where money is no longer a top concern. It is my goal to help people balance their precious 24 hours/365 days to find the right balance of human connection, love, progress, and contribution. And it is my passion to create a community of people who are not only more self-aware of themselves in a deeper way but also more aware of those who are in small villages in remote parts of the world where life is simple….and magical.
My husband Steve and I have a vision to one day create a non-profit that raises funds to support villages in remote parts of Africa. We aim to bring our like-minded community with us to these special places on planet Earth so they can experience the simple life while serving others in a way most people in the Western world will never experience.