Integration Finding Happiness and Purpose in 2020

by Tina Heusel

Ifound happiness when I stopped competing with my identities and instead worked on combining them. My identities as a mom, wife, friend, employee, volunteer, and mentor, all while keeping personal well-being and health top of mind.

Tina’s Tips:

First and most importantly, understand your purpose in life is to live a happy, fulfilling life, and integration is critical. At the start of my purpose journey, I asked myself these questions: am I leading with passion, does this make me happy, am I doing my best work? My mantra became: whoever I am, whatever I’m doing, do, and be my best.

This question can focus on work, family time, working out, or merely driving in my car. If I answer no, then I ask myself, why, what’s missing, and what’s the solution?

Is it me, you, or them? Is it the space or the energy? Am I tired? Am I hungry?

Am I getting friends and family time?

Have I been listening to my body and fueling it with the proper nutrition, rest, stretching, and physical activity and BIG for me: quiet time? Getting

24 | Good Fat Life meditation in, even two minutes in the morning is so impactful in every facet of my life. Make time for YOU. Remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup!

Work culture is vital to integration too. We spend 90,000 hours of our life working so you can assure work culture impacts each part of our lives, infinitely. So, please ask yourself: do your values align with your company or prospective company? Do you prefer to work from home, or do you need to be around people? Do you want an office, or is space not as important? Do you require a mom’s room? Do you need a flexible work schedule? Do you need a supportive work culture, or do you want to go to work head down for 8 hours and leave? If you’re not feeling great at work, check-in with yourself, especially when you feel anxious. Learning what you don’t like can lead you to discover what you want. If you are looking for a new employer, checkout their website, Glassdoor reviews, and ask your network about work-life integration.

Look for ways to blend responsibilities, instead of separate. Invite your friends and family to community events and to volunteer with you. This way, it can be family/friend time while supporting a passion project. Another integration tip is to use one calendar for work, family, and friends, preferably the calendar at your fingertips. Using the calendar on my phone ensures I schedule everything in one place and can immediately schedule, say no, or amend the date. This is one way to use technology to your advantage and relieve the stress of one more thing to do or double-booking yourself. Be sure to schedule meditation, workout, stretch, and friend time into your phone calendar as well.

My last tip is to find a supportive group of people. WXW, Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw, is that for me and probably the most significant slice of my integration pie because it allows me to combine nearly all the slices of my life.

The workshops help me flex my personal and professional development muscle. The camaraderie and support I feel from each event, improve my mental health both from the praise I receive and the praise I give! Equally important, I get to engage with old friends and meet new friends. “The Courage to be Disliked” states the key to happiness is the feeling of contributing and community, so find a community, like WXW, to support your passions!