Living My Dream Life

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Happy 200 Episodes!

Happy 200th episode, my loves! Thank you all for tuning in.

Whether you have been a listener since our first ever episode, or whether you found this podcast very recently, it’s been such an honor recording these episodes for you every week for almost four years, which is insane to think as this started as somewhat of a passion project and has grown to be so much bigger than that.

I’ve been able to connect with so many of my listeners from around the world. I really cannot express how grateful I am to be doing this as part of my career. I love sharing all aspects of my life. I’ve loved that you guys were able to follow me through all of my ups and downs for the past few years.

I wouldn’t be here today without you. The business wouldn’t be here today without you. So from the bottom of my heart, I just wanna say thank you, thank you, thank you so much for being here. You guys are literally the best. Thank you so much.

Manifest Your Dream Life

I felt that it was very fitting to dedicate the 200th episode to Living My Dream life. I go through this exercise with my clients and with myself very often.

The exercise is called the Wheel of Life. I reflect on and I take inventory of:

• What in my life am I truly grateful for?
• Where am I at right now?
• What is there to improve?

The most recent time last month that I completed this exercise, I realized that I’ve grown so much in the past few years.

The business has grown, my community has grown, my friends, my spirituality, like every one of these that I will go into, every single part of my life has grown because I regularly take inventory and focus on what I want to do next.

This exercise is going to be really good for you if you’re feeling a little stuck and you can’t pinpoint what exactly it is.

If you go through this exercise, it’s going to give you a holistic view of your life. I want you to be able to live your dream life.

You might not even know what your dream life is yet. But if you are saying that you’re not currently living your dream life, then this is gonna help you take steps so that you’re getting to where you want to be.

Wheel Of Life

If you want to go through with this exercise, take out a piece of paper and a pen and draw a big circle. Divide the circle into 10 slices.

In each of these slices, we’re going to write down one area, one aspect of your life, and they are:

1. Money & Finances
2. Spirituality
3. Business & Career
4. Health
5. Romantic Relationships
6. Friends & Family
7. Personal Growth
8. Recreation
9. Physical environment
10. Community

After you’ve labeled the sections, the center of the circle where all of the lines intersect on a scale to 10, that is a zero.

On the outer rim of the circle, that is going to be on a scale to 10, a 10.

So if you ask yourself where you would rank your life in each of these areas in the current moment on this specific day, if you are going to rate it a 10, you’re gonna fill in that whole section.

If you’re gonna rate it a five, you’re gonna fill in the section in between the center and halfway through to the end. If you color in on a scale of zero to 10 where you are, it should form a wheel, a perfect round wheel if all of these areas are colored to 10.

However, if a part is lacking, let’s say you give yourself a 3 in community, that part is going to kind of like topple you over.

You want it all to be on the outer rim at level 10. And so what this gives you an idea of is over time, quarter after quarter, you can compare how you’ve improved in life and areas where you can improve.

I first did this exercise when I was in corporate, and it made me realize that a lot of my areas had room for improvement because it just wasn’t aligned to what I wanted out of my life. And in the past few years, every single time I’ve done this exercise, there were things to improve.

I’m not saying that I’ve always had everything out a 10 at all times, but I am currently in a position where I can say in every single one of these areas, I’m giving myself at least a 9, and that is perfect enough of a wheel for me.

I’m just so eternally grateful to be in this present moment because I know anything can change at any moment.

Which also means that if you are ranking pretty low in any of these areas in any given moment, it can shoot right up to 10.

I’m going to give examples of how I was able to take intentional actions to get me to where I am right now.

I hope that these examples serve as motivators so that you can kind of walk on the same path if you want to make a change, know that you can do it because I was not always at this point.

Money and Finances

The first area I want to talk about is money and finances.

This is a wound that I’ve carried since my childhood as the daughter of immigrant parents. We did not grow up rich.

In fact, we grew up quite poor, and it was ingrained in me from an early age to save for a rainy day. I’ve always had this underlying fear that money was going to run out no matter how much money I made in any of my jobs.

No matter how much money I’m making in my business right now, I’ve come to terms with, there’s going to be a part of me that’s so scared for no reason that money is going to run out.

This definitely stems from my childhood.

However, if I look at it objectively, what I am so grateful for right now is learning about all the different ways I can invest money. I can save AND spend money.

It’s been a very empowering journey, thinking for so long in my life that I didn’t have enough, that things were gonna run out, that I had to constantly do more and push myself to a point where I am at peace.

I can see it for what it is. I have the power to rewrite that narrative. I have the power to call in abundance and sit so peacefully in all of this abundance without ever questioning it.

The fact that with my business, I can just easily book vacations to Tokyo for my birthday and stay in five star hotels around the world without feeling like it’s going to run out. It has not been easy.

Clearly my life right now is just so different than what it was a few years ago, and especially growing up.

I was able to do this by learning about personal finance, about how to manage money, about how to invest money, about learning to take on calculated risks with my businesses, and also learning how to create income streams for myself, taking the power back into my own hands.

If this is an area of your life that you want to improve, you can check out the links in the episode description or enroll in the Business Academy.

Business And Career

The next area that we’re gonna focus on is business and career.

As you guys all know, I used to hate my job, but since I started the Wanderlover and I quit, and now I’ve been traveling full-time for the past six years.

The business and the lifestyle I’ve created because of my business is just the most aligned for what I wanted out of my life. I record these episodes because I truly love recording. I don’t have to do any part of my business that I don’t want to.

I have the power to say no to things that I don’t want to do, and I get to just operate from this innate desire to create in a way that I resonate with.

For example, I tried YouTube did not like it was way too much work, and it was just very, very difficult. But podcasting is something that comes so easily and it gives me a sense of joy that I did not get with YouTube.

So with anything business related, I say, hell yes, it’s a full body hell yes, all the things that I want to do and a hard no to the things that give me the ick.

This also comes from a place my high rating for my business and career area.

It comes from a place where I hated my career and I hated the trajectory that I was on. I hated that I was going into the office five times a week before the sun rose and after the sunset with no end in sight, I hated reporting to managers.

I felt so guilty because I wasn’t a great employee and I really wanted to excel at my job, but I just did not have the desire to coming from that place at that time when I first did this exercise, I would’ve probably given myself like a 2 or 3.

That’s the red flag, right? That’s like the huge sign that you need to do something different.

Since then I’ve started multiple businesses. I’ve started multiple projects within those businesses. And when I do this exercise, if it’s not a 10, I always ask myself, what would make me happier?

Because what this exercise helps you recognize is your life is so much bigger than just one area. Just because one area is 10, you’re not gonna be happy if the other areas aren’t. 

Spirituality

The next area that I definitely was very, very low in, and now I’m so proud of me for getting to the other end is spirituality.

I will admit that earlier this year when I had my miscarriage, I threw spirituality out the window.

I was like, how could this happen to me? I was so spiteful, I didn’t understand. I was so confused, and I truly thought there was nothing bigger.

But then over time, it has gotten me so much closer to the universe, the higher being, God, whatever you wanna call it. It has given me a sense of purpose like no other, knowing that life is so much bigger than you.

It really tests you in ways that oftentimes in the moment you cannot comprehend. But I recorded a podcast episode on this.

What it has taught me is that you sometimes just need to surrender and surrender in a way where you fully mean it. You don’t just say things, you don’t just talk about spirituality, but really implementing and living in accordance to what you believe.

So I truly surrendered, and I think that without that really traumatizing experience earlier this year, I would not be where I am today with my spirituality. And I’m just so grateful for that.

There are always bigger plans out there for you. It happens in divine timing and just know that the best is yet to come.

Health

So your physical and mental health, where do you stand there?

This is also one of those areas where you truly appreciate what you have in terms of health, when you’ve experienced the opposite, when you’ve gotten a health scare, whether you’re going through surgery, whether you are having an episode or whatever it is, be so grateful for what you currently have.

One of the most vivid memories that I have in terms of health was driving my grandma, who raised me to her chemo appointments every week because she had cancer, and she unfortunately passed away.

But being so close to that and seeing how one day something can take away all of your power, you can go from this strong, independent woman to just being completely crippled and losing your ability to even walk or go to the bathroom by yourself or just so many things that we take for granted.

And then also if you are not in a state of health that you wish to be in, you have the power to change that.

When I finished college, I was a heavy binge drinker. I gained so much weight in college. I used to stress eat and have a really, really poor diet.

Took it upon myself to go to the gym at least once or twice a day around my nine to five and take my help into my own hands.

I recently took this amazing course on metabolism, gut health and fat loss by Amanda Carneiro, and I stopped eating gluten. I feel amazing.

I learned that I might be celiac after so many years of just experiencing symptoms and thinking nothing of it.

So if your health isn’t where you want to be, you can find a way to change your habits, but you can also be just so grateful for where you are right now and what you have.

Romantic Relationships

Next area is relationships / marriage. I am in such a happy, fulfilling marriage with my dream man who travels the world with me.

Obviously, I haven’t always been in this position. I dated so many people who were just clearly not the right fit for me.

And if you go back to my episode Attracting Your Perfect Partner As A Digital Nomad, I walked through steps that I took in terms of life design, in terms of manifestation to attract my perfect partner.

And you do not have to make any sacrifices. So I hope it’s getting clear that the reason I am here, Living My Dream Life, is because at a point I was not, there were so many red flags and things wrong, but with intention and with the right actions, you can get all of these areas up to where you want them to be. 

Friends And Family

I believe my bond with my family and my closest friends is just like no other.

I have a really solid group of friends from childhood who have seen me through every phase and chapter of my life, who I still talk to. I have friends around the world who are aligned in surfing or business or career or relationship or fun.

I love all of my friends around the world, and I truly make an effort to catch up with them. I don’t let distance stop us.

I call my family at least twice a month, and I just think the people who I choose to surround myself with, whether virtually or physically, it brings out the best in me. It is harder when you are a full-time traveler, which is why it’s so important for you to put in that extra effort.

Don’t let distance stop you from maintaining that relationship. It is a two-way, street and If. you are choosing to not be there for certain things. You have to make it up in other ways.

Personal Growth

So take on new projects, do things that challenge you and get you outside your comfort zone.

I am going to tell you guys, as the first people ever to know that I am building my dream villa in Rote. So it’s still very, very preliminary stages. I don’t even have the land finalized yet, and that is what I’m very busy behind the scenes trying to finalize and sort out.

But in the next few years, I’m so excited for this. I’m gonna be building my dream villa with Ragz, and it’s an island that we absolutely love.

It’s scary and exciting and really brings up different skills that I wish to develop, like leadership and management on site. I think there is always room for personal growth, how you design your life and how you live according to your values.

So ask yourself if this is something you are at a 10 currently for, or if there’s room for improvement.

Recreation

I am at a point where I think of recreation and all I think about is surfing. (You can check out my guide to longboarding here, or my guide to digital nomad surf destinations!) 

I truly think I’ve found my passion for the time being. I love getting in the water.

I love that it’s something I can improve at, that I can meet people, that I can get exercise from. And it is just so fun.

At a point in my life, I do remember that if you asked me what my hobbies were or what I did for fun. I would say going to boozy brunches or going out to parties and clubs.

This is so much better than that, and it’s so much better for me. So I come from a place where I felt like I had no hobbies, and the recreational things that I did were very bad for me, and that is why I’m just very happy with where I am now and trying things later in life.

I tried CrossFit, I tried kite surfing. There were just so many things I took on later in life to get me to where I am now.

Physical Environment

This is also one where I literally shriveled up and died in a corporate environment with corporate politics and corporate bureaucracy and everything else that came with working in a corporate environment to now running my own business on tropical islands around the world, surrounding myself with really ambitious entrepreneurial people who surf and placing myself here.

I didn’t just go with where the work was or I didn’t move to a city because of my job.

I held the intention that I was going to work in places like this, so I took the matter into my own hands. Physical environment can also mean your office or where you spend the most time.

Does it give you joy? Does it bring you happiness?

I can safely say that when this was a two or a three for me, I was not happy. I wanted to be in different places. I didn’t wanna be surrounded in a cubicle, in a building that had like no sunlight. That just wasn’t good for me.

So when you are able to recognize what isn’t good for you, that is when you can make a change.

Community

Last but not least, the last area we have is community. Community is also something I cherish so much now because I spent so long drifting to city to city, traveling from place to place without settling and integrating into the local community.

I went from being super transient to recognizing that I needed to stay longer because I was craving community. I was craving people who would be there for me, craving people who I could connect with on a deeper level instead of it just being so superficial.

So when you find your community, you will know. And until then, put yourself out there. Keep searching for them. Keep doing things that are in alignment to you and you will attract them to you.

And so those are the areas of your life that you should take inventory for and work on when one of them is severely lacking. It takes more than just one piece to have a truly, truly happy dream life.

I know that with this exercise and with the right actions, you will be able to also live your dream life, a reminder to do things because you truly love doing them.

I don’t think I would be able to record 200 episodes on any other platform or do something 200 times every single week.

So this says a lot about what can happen and the magic that happens when you’re doing something that you love. Thank you all so much for being here and cheers to the next a hundred episodes. They’re gonna be even better!

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, it would mean so much if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This helps us spread The Wanderlover mission to those who need a dose of inspiration today.

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