I used to wake up every morning and panic. Panic to the point where I would feel so stressed out and angry, that I would almost guarantee that the whole world heard about it. At home, I gained the nickname ‘Daniela’s Army”. Everything in my house needed to run at a schedule and by the time I left the house, everything needed to be done, clean, washed and put away. A bad obsession of mine that only seemed to stressed me out, more and more each day and I began to ask myself: was really worth it at the end of the day?

In the world we live in today, time seems to be so precious and limited, that we don’t seem to realise that we’re often on constant acceleration with no breaks. As a mum of two boys, I only ever had time to drink one cup of coffee every morning, which was only ever achieved on my way out the door. In fact, the exact schedule every morning was to quickly make my coffee, run down the stairs to get out the door, get in the car, scream and then scream some more because the kids would be fighting and rush to make school drop off. But for some reason, I use to panic if things weren’t done, because what would happen or what would people say if they just happened to turn up at my house for a visit and find my house looking like a cyclone had hit it.

My crazy expectations were driving my sanity past my limits and funnily enough, today if you ask me what my care factor is, I will tell you that my
care factor is zero.

These days, I instead manage to fit two cups of coffee into my routine every morning. Is my house clean like the way it used to be...? No, it isn’t, however I’m completely ok with how it looks. That is because it is now what conserves my sanity and as long as I am happy that’s all that should matter right?

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) how important is your sanity to you? If your answer is between 8-10, and let’s be honest it should really be a 10, then continue reading. However, if your answer is under 8, then you definitely need to continue reading! It is time to start caring less for the things that are really driving you mad and wasting your time. It is time for you to start living your dreams and exceeding your expectations without the stress that lives in you every day.

Remember what’s important to you. Have you ever taken a job or done something that you really didn’t enjoy because it’s what others wanted for you, or because you felt that you ‘should’? as you know, this usually doesn’t end well because it isn’t what’s important to you if more than anything it’s important to them or others, but hey! Who cares about you, or how you feel right? well take a stand and say no! it’s not selfish to speak up, consider, express and want.

Speak up and explain why you don’t feel that way and how it will make you feel or effect you if things were to go that way. Consider other’s feelings but also consider that you also have your own... at the end of the day the question is will this make me happy? And will this make me feel content or will I instead continue to search for wholesomeness. Express and want it is ok to express your feelings and ask the universe to give you what you want, you deserve it and the universe will only ever grant what you need but only when you are ready to receive, so stop making excuses and be ready to accept.

You are your own person after all, so use the freedom you have and act to achieve your goals. This is your life and you shouldn’t feel the need to be accepted by others, concentrate and really think about what’s really important to you. It is your life not theirs!

Stop over analysing. Yes! Stop this immediately and trust me it’s not even worth it, you will find yourself over thinking things, you will lose sleep over it and often you will drive yourself mad just thinking about it for no reason whatsoever. Yes, you will often wonder what others may think or say about you or even wonder if they are judging you at all, but really, you can’t worry about what you can’t control and remember that people will judge you anyways.... that’s life, deal with it. Life’s not about being perfect & after all who cares if Jenny’s house is cleaner than yours! Cleaning can always wait trust me.

Take responsibility. Tune out and remove yourself from the negative forces of the world. Stop asking and looking towards others for their opinions. Stop requiring validation for self-worth and accept yourself for the person that you are. Show the haters the doorway. And, most of all, make your own life happen. 

As you can see it took me a while to realise all of the above. However, when I did, I realised that it all comes down to one final action which was “Choice” - choice, Is the most powerful tool we have & when you really think about it everything boils down to choice.. So, what will yours be? I’ve made mine, now you make yours!