Why share this now? My journey to self actualization
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How I ended up here
I spent the first half of my 20’s working many jobs and going to school. My life was free of many responsibilities, and my time was focused mainly on education, paying bills, and having fun. When I completed my bachelors degree I pursued a masters, extending my time as a student for another year. I continued working my jobs hoping to find my purpose or passion. My interests were clear I just didn’t know where to focus my energy. So, I tried different things, moved to different cities, and tested different jobs. In the second half of my 20’s, I had found a good, stable job making good money in Southern California. I still felt a void and was starting to feel the life pressures that I’m going to share later.
The time you had in your 20’s to focus all day on your professional pursuits is no longer sustainable in your 30’s. Shit starts to happen.
My turning point
I always knew I wanted to start and build my own businesses. Fast forward a couple years after completing my masters, and I’m taking the leap to quit my stable job and go build something on my own. (after a year hiatus exploring ideas and traveling — I’ll have to write separate posts about that experience.) After that year passed, I decided to go full-time on a startup business with friends. That was 2018 and I have been doing that ever since.
As any startup entrepreneur or business leader, your professional life requires intense focus and dedication to solving challenging problems every day. I still am deeply committed to life as an entrepreneur, but now in my 30’s, the responsibilities in my personal life are also growing and needing more attention. This reality hit me hard when I started thinking more and more about my future self and asking what type of trajectory I was on. I understand now that many people go through the same feelings once they reach this time of their life. Both my personal and professional life demand my energy and attention day in and day out. This was new for me because perspectives in my 20’s were different. I never went through as much self reflection and awareness about my future as I do now.
I set out to really understand what it means to optimize life and put my health and wellness in the center of everything.
My low point
I realized then, at age 31 to 32, that this battle between professional and personal life was only growing more unbalanced with bigger swings from one side to the other. For the typical person these life demands mean having a child, buying a house, visiting doctors, paying more bills, managing new relationships, etc. The time you had in your 20’s to focus all day on your professional pursuits is no longer sustainable in your 30’s. Shit starts to happen. The pressures of adulthood become much stronger and demand way more energy. My health and wellness has always been important to me, but it was all falling apart.
During this time, I was going through deep periods of stress and anxiety. I was sick more often than ever before. I was questioning all areas of my life. These were only the first years of my 30’s and they were challenging me in ways I never experienced before. I was always hardworking, fit, healthy, and could deal with almost any challenge until now.
I was the unhealthiest I had ever been. This go-go-go lifestyle was beating me down, and I had not even been through the larger life experiences I mentioned. My mind, body, and soul was not in alignment, and I was completely lost already. Then I started to think: how many other people must experience the same sorts of problems I was facing? What were they doing about it?
What I learned and where I’m going
After these revelations, I set out to really understand what it means to optimize life and put my health and wellness in the center of everything. I began to reshape my lifestyle to be a high performer in not just my professional life, but my personal life too. What started in my late 20’s has continued through today, and I have learned many valuable insights, tools, techniques, daily practices, and more that help me produce in all areas of my life.
I have been on this discovery journey for a while now. As I continue my pursuit of self actualization, I want to share with others all the different tools, theories, and methods I encounter.
Whether you are someone who is an entrepreneur, runs a small business, or works multiple jobs, I hope you can find something to apply to your life that benefits you in one or more ways.
