Navigating 20s: Living More Intentionally

Hey guys, it’s Penny here!

To be honest, my creativity is stuck in a rut. I noticed that I’ve been living on a survival mode ever since the master started. I noticed that I have been holding my breath,feeling anxious, overwhelmed, hurt and upset. Being home never felt this peaceful. I’m so grateful that I’m back home.

I decided to make some changes in my life. I’m going to start living intentionally and mindfully again, just like how I used to do before moving to another country and starting a course. I’m not going to be on this survival mode any longer. I’m putting myself first.

So, how can we live more intentionally in our lives? What would be some easy steps to do that?

1)    Living more in the moment. Majority of us are living on automatic pilot, where we do daily things automatically. We wake up, mindlessly scroll through our social media accounts, spend hours and hours wasting our time on things that do not serve our highest values.

As a result, we live an unfulfilled life. I’ve been thinking about Socrates’ specific quote lately. ‘’An unexamined life is not worth living.’’ I think this is very true. Are we really examining our lives? Are we really content about our job, education, friend circles, or even relationships? Are you holding onto a current relationship just because you are afraid to be lonely? Are you studying a degree just because your parents want you to do so?

I know, it’s easier to said than done. The society puts a lot of pressure on individuals and we have to earn money someway in order to live, pay our rents and taxes. But there’s more than that and I feel like this is one of the reasons why people are now started trying retreats, mindfulness-based practices, and meditating more. Because we cannot ‘’do’’ stuff all the time. We forget that we have a soul, and we have to stop and listen to what it tells us every day and that’s called meditation, or prayer, whatever you believe in.

2)    Decluttering. How many stuffs are you holding on to just because it was gifted? You can start doing this by checking your wardrobe. I did a huge wardrobe clear-out 2 years ago, and I’m trying to limit the number of things I buy, even though sometimes I cannot help with impulse buying, I’m trying my best. I think that’s enough.

3)    Being kinder to ourselves. I think this is what we all guilty of. We tend to forget to be kind to ourselves. Usually, we tend to show compassion more towards others and not ourselves. Our inner critical voice doesn’t allow this. But this can be changeable. It is found that showing self-compassion towards ourselves as well as doing compassion meditations help us to soften our inner critical voice into a softer, loving, nurturing one. (I wrote more about how we can increase compassion to ourselves in my blog post here!)

4)    Creating boundaries. I’m very guilty of this one, lol! I can never say ‘no’ to anyone. That’s why I have always felt like a doormat, and people were stepping on me, crossing my boundaries all the time. However, after some recent experiences, I decided to create more strict boundaries and I’m teaching myself on not to feel bad about it. After all, this is my life, right? I’m affirming myself every day that it’s okay to put myself first and its okay to say ‘no’ if I feel like it.

5)    Being more sustainable. Lately, I’m trying to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly, even though I still have a long way to go, but a start is always good right? I’m becoming more aware about my waste, and skincare, makeup products I use, and making sure that they are renewable.

6)    Caring for your wellbeing. Whether it’s a 10-minute meditation break, or a half hour breathing session, lately, I learnt how caring for our wellness is crucial. Are we feeding our bodies enough with healthy foods, or are we relying on junk food? Unfortunately, if you feed your body with processed food, you’ll sooner realize that your body will make you sick. So, be mindful of what you are consuming daily. This also applies for the amount of time you spend on social media, as well.

That’s all for this post! Please let me know in the comments down below about your experience with intentional living. Do you have any tips?

Take care!

Until the next post,

Penny