Hello Friends! By Julie Cross

I have recently had a couple of wonderful trekking adventures, ‘The Overland Track’ in Tasmania and then a ‘weekend’ adventure on beautiful Moreton Island.

But it isn’t specifically the adventures I would like to talk about here, but instead the adventure of life itself. Because you see when I do trips like, this, when I say YES to these opportunities, well, I often hear that phrase again, “You are so lucky to be able to do that”. And yes, I am lucky, but remember that we choose our ‘luck’ and I have consciously chosen to live a life by design and not by default. I do choose to say YES to life’s adventures and opportunities, and the reason I can do that is because I say ‘NO’ to other things. I believe we can have everything, but not all at once, which means we do have to be very aware of what we really do ‘want’ at al the different stages of life, both personally and professionally.

Let me explain...

I was having a conversation with somebody recently... they are financially very successful with a successful business; they have a beautiful home, a holiday house and lots of fun toys. They suggested that I was very lucky to have the flexibility to be able to say ‘yes’ to these wonderful adventures and opportunities when they came up. I agreed but reminded them that I have been very conscious about choosing and creating my luck.

Because you see I can look at them and say that I think they are lucky to have their own home, a holiday house and all the toys... but you see I have consciously chosen to down size my life and commitments and so I don’t have all of those things, because having all of those things requires lots of income, working longer hours etc ... So I said no too much of that... lucky me or unlucky me? We decide every day what is important to us whether we realise it or not. So in downsizing my financial obligations and with less ‘stuff’ to manage I have more time and flexibility to allow me to say yes to what is important to me which is adventures like hiking and trekking (which often don’t cost a lot of money to do).

Now there is no wrong or right to what you say yes or no too... and what is right and yes for you may be wrong and no for me. So the point really is about being very conscious about the decisions we make so that we are living the life WE want to live, and not somebody else’s idea of what a ‘good’, ‘successful’ and ‘happy’ life should look like. To use a hiking analogy, there is no point climbing a mountain because you started climbing and you just keep going and then when you get to the top you realise that it is not the view you wanted, and in fact the life you wanted, and the mountain you wanted to climb is over there across the skies in a whole other mountain range.

Decide what is important to you, what do you want to say YES too, and then say NO to all the things that don’t get you closer to being able to say YES!

And you know it is very much the same in business... I so often see people in business trying to say yes to everything and everybody rather than staying in their own lane, on their own mountain, and saying no to what doesn’t work for their business... they add new services, because the place down the road is, they watch what other people are doing, constantly trying to ‘keep up’, trying to be everything to everybody, trying to keep up with everything and everybody, and when we do that, we suddenly lose sight of our mountain, and our uniqueness, and we are moving around in circles, getting very tired and going nowhere fast.

Having said that, when you do get offered those opportunities that you know are right for you... you can feel it... they may be right out of your comfort zone, but they are also the ones that give you that excited feeling in your tummy, they are the ones that have you feeling ‘alive’... a little bit excited and often a little bit scared. Well, go on, say YES!

The reward will be that you feel so damn alive.

And this is how I felt on and after every trek... it truly is a remarkable experience and always with the most incredible views... wrapped up in Mother Natures beauty, my heart is full, my feet are a little sore (but hey being alive means a little pain along the way), my soul is so alive.... YES! Lucky me!

So hike up those boots, make your own unique footprints through the world living life YOUR way! Because what other way is there?

www.juliecross.com.au