Life Changing Inspiration For Living An Intentional Life In 2022 And Beyond
Our lives are made up of a series of both small and big choices that we make each day. Often, when you don’t make the choice for yourself, inevitably it is made for you.
One of the big choices that Alex and I had to make for our family, apart from how many kids we should have (ps: I won!), was to move to Australia from Kenya. Big choice if ever there was one for us! Never mind we’ve since moved again to Saudi Arabia for a bigger opportunity but I digress… let me tell you about our move Down Under..
That choice was initiated by a series of external events and circumstances in Kenya in September 2013.
While I was 4 months pregnant with our precious little daughter Zuri, and our gorgeous little sons were 5 and 2 years old respectively, there was a horrible terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall in the capital city Nairobi.
A total of 67 people, numerous Kenyans including children and foreign nationals from 19 different countries, were killed and thousands of lives ruined!
It was a traumatic and devastating event, most so for those who lost loved ones! We were fortunate enough not have been at the Mall the Saturday afternoon that the attack took place.
However, we had been there the previous Saturday at their Artcaffe with our boys for lunch! I was shaken… I was paralyzed with fear…. I was distressed!
I cried for ages (heightened by pregnancy hormones I’m sure) as it played out in the media over several harrowing weeks. I couldn’t help but wonder: “What if we’d been there with the kids that Saturday afternoon?!” What if? What if!!!
That incident formed the impetus to make a huge life choice. I couldn’t reconcile raising our 3 kids in Nairobi with that spirit of fear that had taken residence in my heart. It didn’t take several incidences – it just took that one major one.
We established a specific intention for our family and worked towards achieving that within a reasonable timeframe.
Sometimes, it’s easier to choose to settle for what’s more comfortable, and what we feel is safer.
We consequently let life happen to us rather than creating the life that we want for ourselves. We end up paralyzing ourselves in safe places and living according to other people’s opinions, which are in most cases not aligned to the hopes and dreams we have for ourselves.
Maybe the safer choice is taking a ‘traditional job’ in a multinational company that may pay well and have great benefits, but you’re discontent, unhappy, miserable. But hey, they pay medical after all and medical can be expensive, right?
Perhaps you save up consistently and diligently to have enough money to take a holiday with your family once a year for 1 week, but then you sacrifice your free time to enjoy your earnings along the way.
That ‘traditional job’ may take 40, maybe 50 years of your life, whilst you’re living paycheck to paycheck and just getting by. Perhaps not always struggling but just getting by.
You may or may not realize that you’ve made the comfortable choice by not having something to believe in or strive towards. You let your circumstances define you and then, life happens to you. I can relate to this.
This is Survival and there’s no intentionality to it.
Living intentionally on the other hand focuses on the opposite. When you’re living intentionally you have a set purpose to life.
You take ownership of your life.
You focus on doing things, on growing and achieving. While survival focuses on just getting through to the next day, living intentionally puts your focus on embracing life to the fullest.
You don’t let life happen to you as a Survivor. You’re Intentional.
For example, you’re aware of your health therefore you monitor what you eat, you exercise, and you go for regular medical checkups. You are intentional about a healthy lifestyle.
In the area of your finances, the choices you make are intentionally aligned towards gaining financial freedom or financial independence for you and your family. You acknowledge what you’re passionate about and you take small, consistent and deliberate actions to fulfill your intentions.
This is ownership of your life. Actively participating and being intentional about creating the life you want for yourself and the people in your life. That’s the power of intention.
The first step to owning your life is taking responsibility for the decisions you make and for your actions. We are the architects of our lives because we have God-given free will.
Looking back, I was already discontent with my life in Nairobi, primarily the stressful hustle and bustle that was never ending, the exhausting politics, the brazen corruption, borderline law breaking, the stressful gridlock traffic and lack of courtesy on the roads (this was a big one for me – the traffic is to be seen to be believed!).
However, the insecurity was the deal breaker. I was simply not ready to accept to continue living with that because it was increasingly compromising the quality of my life and that of my family. We became intentional about emigrating and did so.
Were there sacrifices to be made from our choice? Of course!
Our family and circle of love could not come with us. Alex and I are both very close to our parents and the thought of putting a significant distance between us was heartbreaking!
They would have visited of course, but who knew back in 2017 that COVID and all the messy travel restrictions that would be put in place would prevent us from seeing our families for another few years?! That’s another story for another day.
Conclusion
Intentional actions may not always get you what you want and certainly don’t ensure that you’ll get to do things exclusively your way, but they certainly move you from where you are and get you closer to where you want to ultimately be.
Be patient with yourself and don’t lose the focus of your life. Expect to travel unexpected roads – that is life after all – but realize that those roads will eventually lead you to your goals, if you’re intentional about it.
Leave me a comment and tell me the 1 thing you’ll be intentional about with your life this year. Thanks for being here.
