5 Ways to Live Your Best Life

I may not be an expert on how to live the best life (I’ll let someone like Beyonce or Oprah take the mantle, there), but there are a few things that I do that help me live my best life… so, I wanted to share:

Prioritizing self care is something that has become incredibly important to me in the last year and especially in recent months. The thing is, your own life will always be the one that you have the most control over. Also, at the end of the day, it’s your own life that you have to live with – your own decisions. This means that the decisions you make and the activities, the people and the things that you prioritize matter. Priorities matter. Therefore, to live my best life I always make sure to prioritize the things I know matter to me: meditation, spending time with family, sweating every day, setting goals, eating healthy, etc. I try to remember to take the necessary steps to keep the things that are important to maintaining my own happiness high on my list of priorities because I’ve learned that it isn’t selfish… when you live your best life, you’re at your best to be present and thoughtful and loving in the lives of the people you care for.

Working out, for most people – if not all, is a love-hate relationship. It can be difficult to push yourself to sweat if you don’t actually want to workout or if your workout is something that you are dreading. I’ve noticed that when I am feeling my best in a workout, it’s because I am inspired by something: a goal, a person or even a cheesy motivational quote (who would have ever guessed that I would be someone who loves choreographed indoor cycling classes and instructors who speak to my soul?). Finding inspiration in a workout is something that is necessary to keep your fitness at the top of your game – even on the days when you don’t feel like sweating.

Things that fall under this label include, but are not limited to: meditation, sleeping enough (hey, I try!), relaxing when you feel overwhelmed and always letting your body recover fully (once again, I really try!). The thing is, when your body isn’t rested and recharged, you’re never going to be able to be at your best for work, in your relationships and even in reaching for your own goals. Recharging your batteries is important so that you can keep your eyes open when you’re reading a book, so that you’re able to lift with intensity and focus in the gym and even so that you can be fully present in the conversations you have with people you care about. The bottom line is this: recharging your mind and body is essential to living your best life.

Crack a joke, live in the moment, appreciate the people who are in your life and the things in your life that make you happy. Pretty simple concept but stress and pressure can sometimes push it down on our priority list. A quick go-to that I use to cheer up when I’m feeling down is to scroll through my camera roll on my phone and let my favorite memories make me smile, to watch a funny tv show (I definitely recommend Schitt’s Creek and Grace and Frankie to anyone who owns a TV) or to even text my family groupchat or my sisters. Remember that reaching out to the people you love when you’re feeling like you need something to smile about when you can’t think of something on your own or you just don’t find that tv show very amusing will also always do the trick

Finally, and this is something that I am trying to do more often, it is important to have the hard conversations. This (click here) is one of my favorite TED talks. It’s about the power of vulnerability by Brené Brown and it’s one of the most powerful twenty minutes on the internet. Go ahead, take a moment and watch it. It is helping me to live my best life and it might help you as well.

“Daring greatly means the courage to be vulnerable. It means to show up and be seen. To ask for what you need, to talk about what you’re feeling, to have the hard conversations.”