I don’t know about you but have you tried to be living large only to be weighed down by the expectations of man? Be it family, friends. Church. Just society at large. There are all these expectations that are heaped on you and you are left with nowhere to turn. What do you do in such scenarios? How do you still remain you in the midst of we? And this is the dilemma I feel I was in for so long…trying to be perfect, trying to reach the standards that I did not set for myself. That is why I am on a journey to Live Laugh and Love. 100 days of metamorphosis.
I recently joined a ladies group called Lady in Waiting. It is a growth and accountability group of ladies who want to be better in their singlehood as they wait for their Prince Charmings. As I said I am a hopeless romantic and believe in Fairytales. Nothing you say is gonna make me feel ashamed of that. Nothing!! Haha! I took awhile to get there. You know those dreams that you don’t share. It is just between you and God but hey it is what it is.
So we want to be fruitful and productive women of God fulfilling our purpose in singlehood. It is not a matter of how long the wait will be but how we will be in it. So we were tasked to read a book, Lady in Waiting by Debbie Jones and Jackie Kendall, an amazing book about being Gods best while waiting for Mr. Right but what struck me and hit home was when they said that, “A woman becomes a woman when she becomes who God wants her to be.” I was like Hallelujah! Now there was a sermon.
The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.
Eleanor Roosevelt
You see…that is it. We are all here to become who God wants us to be. There may be all these societal expectations,now coupled with your own, they become a quagmire. But we have our Father who created us and each of us was created with a unique purpose. No other person has it and no one can compete with who you are. You just have to be you and walk your journey,no matter how many detours occur.
And that is what Living Large is all about. Living your life on God’s terms and accepting it as yours. But you see our lives have been divided into different segments or spheres. We have different spheres of our life that we need to balance out. You can not be winning in one part and losing in the other. Sometimes you will be better at one over the other but you need to acknowledge that you need to work at it so that your living large is whole.
Introducing the wheel of life or the self-reflection wheel. I am not sure if she is the one who created this particular wheel as there are many different versions but when I saw this wheel, I was simply like yes,this makes a lot more sense. So here is the wheel of Life by Lavendaire. It is divided into different segments or spheres of our life and those segments are further divided which makes it all more holistic.
Self- Self esteem, Growth and Environment
I think this self-explanatory hahah! See that!! Anyway, this is all about self. How am I on my self-esteem? How do I see myself? Do I know and believe that I am loved and enough just as I am? Growth is all about what I am doing for personal growth like journaling or meditation. The environment is the place or people I am around. I am glad to say I have very many growth environments like Afrobloggers, NGMP, Harvest Institute. Places that are teaching me new things.
Wellness- Physical, Nutrition and Emotional
I have neglected this for so long but now it has taken front seat. Physically, I have embarked on exercising every morning. This is such a shock because I have not exercised in over 8 years so it was good getting into it. I also have self-care Sundays which I have dedicated to just me-just sleep or do a manicure. Just me loving on me. Nutrition- this has been hard coz I love all the wrong things like pasta and pizza but I am now on a healthy diet with vegetables and fruits taking top spot. Emotional- I am a work in progress but I am getting there. Taking time off for myself is working for me.
Relationships- Family,Social and Partner
Family can be tricky because we talk every day about what is happening, where we are at but are we really talking? I am learning now to be more intentional and spend some time with each sibling. Believe me, I fall off the wagon more than I stay on it but we move. Social- with covid19 and social distancing, it’s been online so calling up friends and talking.
Partner- I do not have a partner but I am preparing for a partner. I joined the Ladies in waiting group and it has been amazing hearing how people are navigating singlehood. I have learnt so much but the most important is to be content and fruitful in this season. Who knows? Maybe at the end of the 100 days, I will have met by kingdom purpose partner.
Purpose- Career, Life and Contribution
My career is blooming and I am happy about it. There are many things to put in place but it is one step at a time. Life- my eyes are opening up to new goals like for example Creativity Coaching that I want to embark on next year. Contribution is how do I contribute to my society/community? I will not lie this is a total fail so far but I am working on it. Be easy with me!!
Finances- Income,Management and Freedom
This month, it’s all about finances so this part is becoming so exciting which I am glad to say because I did not want anything to do with finances. I thought I was terrible at it but it’s just a matter of learning so I am learning from many financial gurus. My ultimate goal is freedom- freedom of money and time. But it is one step at a time. As always!
Creativity- Creativity, Joy and Play, Adventure
OOOhhhhhh this was a new one. A whole sphere of life dedicated to creativity. YYeeeeee! However, I am on a fail on creativity. I had intended to learn the piano this year but alas but I am thinking of taking up a different creative path like art journaling. I haven’t yet nailed it down but we shall get there. Joy and Play- I am not really a person who plays but this has to come on and I am still not sure how. I am working on it.
For adventure, I have a trip to the Sssese Islands in place so it is just a matter of planning. It was supposed to be this month but the way it is going, it might have to be October. Anyway, we will see. As you see,work in progress.
Spiritual
This wasn’t there but as a Christian, it is a very important part of my life. So me and JC aka Jesus Christ have been having dates every morning. I am reading a psalm a day. I am now on Psalm 14. Psalms has over 100 psalms so it was a good place to start. I am trying various ways on how I can make my date time interesting coz it was boring before. I couldn’t get myself to do it. But now I have changed things up so we have the time I spend just talking to JC, reading my bible and now I am trying out creative bible journaling. So far so good. I mean I am on a date. It has gotta be fun and intimate.
A lotta sweet memories what we got we see in colour but they do not
Yeah we’re livin’, livin’ large, yeah we’re livin’, livin’ large
A lotta sweet memories what we got we see in colour but they do not
Oh yeah we’re livin’ large, livin’ large, yes we’re livin’ large, livin’ large
Livin’ large ~ Brains
We are living Large
In these times with so much going on, there is so much opportunity to just give up. I mean no one will fault you however this isn’t the time to give up. It is time to lean in. Lets live large. Living large is different for everyone, only you can design the life you want. It is all on your terms but that means you are at the drivers seat….so drive well, put on your seatbelt and press the accelerator coz we are living large!!!
We are on Episode Two of the Chapter LIVE of my show, LIVE LAUGH LOVE: A 100 days of metamorphosis. We are living large today. How are you living large? Please share in the comments section as we encourage each other on this journey.
Toast to living large. This definitely gets us put on our thinking caps. Thanks for sharing.
Love this. And that sounds like a great group. Is there a link for us late comers ????. Thank you for sharing.
living large ☕
~B
Yyyiippppoeeee. Thanks B