I recently spent a week in Barcelona, Spain.  I went for work and added on a couple of days for me to meet up with some friends and explore and see all the sights.  We had so much fun.

It was such an amazing trip on so many levels.  I’m still unpacking and processing all that came out of this trip for me. 

I went solo.  I’ve never traveled internationally by myself, and to be honest with you, I’m not a very courageous traveler.  There are many parts of my life that I am fully courageous, and travel has not been one of them.

The second part of the trip was work.  I invested in a Mastermind – The Source Mastermind and Network, with two amazing people.  Richard Taubinger, CEO of Conscious Marketer, and Kylie Slavik – One of the top Copywriters in the country.  It has been the best investment in my business I could have made. The mastermind included 3 in-person events,

When I first heard the last in-person event was going to be in Barcelona, I figured I wouldn’t go.  I would just listen to the recordings of the event. 

Over time I started getting this nagging feeling that it was important for me to go.  

I started seeing Barcelona everywhere.  Spirit was very persistent, that it was important for me to be there. 

I have learned that when spirit is that persistent, it is best to listen. I did.  I bought a ticket to Barcelona.  The timing wasn’t great.  It was in between three other trips that I had to make, and I would get back 2 weeks before we had a family trip planned to Italy.

I had to be crazy to schedule four trips, two of which were international, in a span of nine weeks.  I just knew it had to happen.  It checked the boxes of 2 of my top 3 priorities.

I am very committed to my priorities.  And this trip was not only a work priority.  This trip was a priority for me.  To fill my cup up, to face a fear and overcome it and experience self-reliance in a new way.

To explore a new place. Barcelona is a wonderful city. Wrapped between the Mediterranean and the mountains. The history, architecture, food, and art. It was vibrant, safe, and full of wonderful people.  Sitting in cafes, restaurants, and museums. As I wandered the streets, I rarely saw people on their phones other than to take pictures.

It was a stark difference between the US and Spain.  

The lifestyle they have is a beautiful approach to life that seems to fit them very well.  The parts that I loved were that they slowed down. They gathered at cafes and connected with one another.  I rarely saw someone on their phone at a table. They took time to enjoy a morning cup of coffee.  Meals are a time to connect, talk and be present with each other. They felt like a ritual or celebration to me.  

There were cabs everywhere but no honking.  It was so fascinating to me.  

I was also the only one grabbing a cup of coffee and walking to my meeting.  As I walked down the street in the morning, I noticed I was the only one walking with a cup of coffee in my hand. I loved how they took time and slowed down to enjoy the little things.

Every culture has a different lifestyle that tends to be ingrained into the people living in it.  Every culture has great things about it, and some that may not be so great for you. However, many of us being brought up in a certain culture get caught living the good and bad of our ingrained culture.

And, you don’t have to choose to live the way that is culturally ingrained in you. 

You can choose how you live. You can choose the lifestyle you want to live. Is it easy? No. 

It takes making a decision and committing to the inner and outer work that decision is going to take.  

You can take the great parts of the culture you have grown up in and discard what doesn’t work for you.  You can take the things you love from other cultures and implement them into your own lifestyle.  

You get to create how you want to live. You have a choice.

At the age of 33, I had a huge awakening and was cracked wide open.  

I had checked the boxes. I graduated from high school, went to college, got offered a great accounting position at a large firm (that I turned down – a story for later), got married, bought a house, etc.  I was living the expectations of others.  I was living to prove myself.  That I was good enough.  This wasn’t easy for me as I had a tendency to buck the system. And, I also wanted to be successful, I wanted my family and the people I cared about to be proud of me. I wanted to belong and fit in.

Living this way wasn’t good for me, and I ignored all the signs.  Hence the huge awakening that cracked me wide open.  I knew I had to make a change.  I was committed to creating something different in my life.  

Over the last 25 years, I have done just that.  I have chosen the parts I love about the culture I grew up in and eliminated parts that just weren’t right for me.  I am constantly refining and shifting my lifestyle as I grow and my life changes.  That’s the beauty when you choose to create how you want to live.

You might be asking, where do I start? It starts with a decision.  A decision to create a life that is right for you.

After you make that decision, here are a few questions to ponder as you get started:

1. Where do you want to live?  I knew I wanted to live in Colorado.  Where there were four seasons, no humidity, mountains and views for days.  I grew up in Denver and am a mountain girl through and through.
   
2. How do you want the place you call home to feel?  I want to feel peace and be inspired by being surrounded by nature.  I also wanted to be able to see for miles.  Being surrounded by too many trees that you can’t see what is in the distance makes me feel claustrophobic.  I wanted a valley.  I wasn’t sure what that might look like at the time, but I knew how I wanted to feel.  I ended up in Carbondale, CO, in a valley surrounded by mountains.  I have been here for 22 years this summer and never take for granted the beauty that I am surrounded by.

3. Who do you want around you?  When I first asked myself this question, I was living in Denver and divorced.  I wanted to live alone.  I wanted to have friends close by.  I would have loved to have family close, but they lived in Texas, and I knew that was not my place. Now, I want my family close, I want a community of people who challenge me and inspire me.

4. What is essential for you in the way you want to live?  For me, it was flexibility and freedom.  The freedom to work and live anywhere I wanted. I’ve worked for myself since I was 24.  This was really important for me.  I wanted to be able to travel, learn and experience new things.  

Just a few things to get you thinking.  The beauty is your choices will grow and change as you do.  You’ll refine and bring new things in and eliminate others that you’ve grown out of.  

Start to dream a little and play with this.  

I would love to hear some ideas you come up with.