Ok, I am now on a new adventure and ready to get back to this blogging thing I love so much. I am currently “rewiring” as Anthony Fouci has described retirement. I still have loads I want to do in life, but as it turns out, I really prefer not having a boss. My childhood heel-digging-in-statement, “you are not the boss of me”, really makes so much sense to me now 😉
Like many of you who landed on this page, I too am really wanting to consolidate in my head what I am actually good at, what I really want to do with all those good things and, at the same time, really wanting my “imposter syndrome” chatter box to shhhhhhh….just a wee bit while I try some things out.
So, here we go. Join me!
Way back in my early days of learning how to be a therapist, I went to a workshop where I left with this really concise way of looking at my life, or my VITALS, that helped me to create a lens for my life and light for my personal growth path. I am dusting this off for you…and for me at this transition time in my life. Check this out!
VITALS are….
Values
Interests
Temperament
Activities
Life goals
Strengths
Check out this resource for more information on exploring your VITALS!
Creating that Personal Mental Library of who you are, what you want, how you want to move through this world, what gives you joy, is such an important endeavour on the road to positive mental health. We often lose ourselves, lose our way, drowning in all the social noise and expectations of life, those unexamined “shoulds”. This is a way to start getting back grounded in who you are and where you want to be.
SO LET’s RECALIBRATE!
Working WITH Who you are Instead of AGAINST
….unless you enjoy a painful life where you feel less than competent, less happy, less joyful and feel like an imposter and generally like crap, free to work against who you are. I am all about “you do you!” 😉
I do think that the world is way more interesting when humans move through this world with all their cool, unique, quirky ways of being. Which is so much better because our brain gets bored very easily. So BE YOU! You are part of a much more interesting world….and helping to create much less bored brains.
Acknowledgement: I know, I know, there are all kinds of social “rules” that make this really hard at times, but hopefully I can share a few human hacks to help you calibrate how much ‘you are you’, depending on the supportiveness factor of the situation/context you find yourself in.
I thought I would collect some great resources for you to get started on exploring your VITALS. Check out the links below and start collecting information about yourself, keeping it in one place, maybe in a journal, or a chart, whatever works for you, one that helps you to SEE all the cool things that you bring.
Create your Life Lens!
Values
Interests
- Check This Out! Great Resource for Exploring Your Interests and Passions
- The Japanese Practice of Ikigai – now I have your attention 🙂
Temperament
Activities (Around-the-Clock)
Some questions to ask yourself…
- What are my peak-energy times?
- When am I most efficient?
- Do I work better starting with easier tasks first (sense of accomplishment) or do I like to take a big bite out of my “to-do” list (life then feels more manageable)?
- What do I naturally like to do? Can I use this as a motivational reward?
Life Goals
Strengths
Final word of advice…
We cannot grow steeped in shame, so you might want to consider adding a self-compassion learning experience to your life list 🙂
Self-compassion is simply the process of turning compassion inward. We are kind and understanding rather than harshly self-critical when we fail, make mistakes or feel inadequate. We give ourselves support and encouragement rather than being cold and judgmental when challenges and difficulty arise in our lives. Neff’s research on self-compassion involves three core elements: mindfulness, self-kindness, and common humanity.
Dr. Kristin Neff
Tell me about your journey!
#YouGotThis #LiveFully #EmbraceThisMessyLife
Dr. Heather Drummond, C.Psych.
Psychologist & Fellow Messy Human
As always…thanks! I love how VITALS pulls so many different areas together! Also, isn’t Ikigai so beautiful?
Ann!! Thank you so much, as always, for your wonderful and kind words of support 🙂 Ikigai was the foundation of what has made me, me. I was introduced to this approach in the 90s when I was a new karate student.
Love your content, always. I’m not seeing any links to the various resources you’ve listed under the VITALS. Am I misunderstanding something?
Thanks Ceejay! For some reason my links didn’t come through. Thanks for having my back! They should be there now. I would love to hear more about what you think 🙂