Have You Been Lied To?

I've been lied to pretty much my whole life

Are You Being Lied To?

I was told that i had to get a job

I had to earn a wage by trading my time for money

I had to get a mortgage

And I had to be married and have 2.4 children

To be considered a success

This from a young age was how I was told that I "should" live

And this is what "success" looked like

And for 15 years I had a pretty good go at it!

I looked pretty "successful" from the outside

I had the nice bag, the red soled shoes, the high flying corporate career which took me all over the world, a ring on my finger, I was studying at University and I was a landlady

I had all of these fancy titles after my name, I had all of these roles in life and I felt that this all gave me a purpose

Status is something we all want right?

The problem is "success" can be two faced. It can be your best friend one minute and the next it can slap you across the face the next

My success had driven away my friendships as I became unreliable.

I was never around to support my friends when they needed it and I found myself being a part time crappy weekend friend

My success had taken the ring off my finger. I'd got engaged to the love of my life to only feel that because neither of us had sorted our wedding out then that must have been a sign for us not to get married rather than realising we were both too bloody busy!

But the most important thing my success took away from me was my health

An almighty burnout which lasted 8 months was the result of my "success"

And to find out that my success had most probably also taken away my fertility

My health was a mess.....

I had burnout, adrenal fatigue, skin problems, stress, depression and I had gained weight

As if that wasn't bad enough, my "success" set me on a spiral of making bad choices over the next 5 years

An abusive relationship quickly followed my burnout

This lie that had been told to me by well meaning adults, by careers advisers, by politicians and by teachers that "Success" meant a certain thing meant that I chased everything

I spent 15 years chasing the career, the family, the education, the titles and the dream that I could have it all

Well I couldn't have it all!

And being trapped in bed for 8 months has now given me a new purpose....

To tell the truth and openly talk about what success did to me

To realise I am human

That I have limits

And that I could quit this crazy gravy train at any time I chose!

The sad thing is my story is not unique.....

Some of this may be resonating with you

And that if you live your life like this you may end up the same way I did - or you may already have

What the fcuk is success anyway!?

So, I've redefined what success is to me......

It's being happy - EVERY SINGLE DAY - not ALL day every day, but at least some of it

It's being surrounded by loving supportive people through your highs AND your lows

It's the number of people I help take control of their overwhelmed lives

Most importantly it's loving myself RIGHT NOW, IN THIS VERY MOMENT

It's not me chasing that size 10

It's not me 10 years ago minus the wrinkles

And it's not me comparing myself to someone else

It's loving ME RIGHT NOW = that is success to me

Take a good look at who you spend most of your time with

They say you are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with

Are these people negative, do they suck the life out of a room or are cynical?

Or are they loving and supportive? Do they find a way to turn something into a negative? Do they listen and try and help?

I'm not saying that as soon as a friend or a family member has a hard time in life then I'm off!

Far from it.....but are these people fundamentally encouraging you forwards or holding you back?

If the people around you aren't there in your worst times then they sure don't deserve to be there at your best times

Notice who it is who you want in your life and where possible make these people more at the forefront of your life

For those who you can't say a permanent goodbye to then make them less important in your life. See them less and don't listen when they tell you that you can't

People who drain you, who are mood hoovers, gossip or tell you "you can't" then remove them from your life

My life is FULL of amazing, inspiring people

My Facebook feed is full of optimism and positivity

I thrive on this and forget when I step into other scenarios that some people are still negative

It sometimes takes me by complete surprise!

I had a random comment on my Facebook feed the other day, one that was there only to trigger a response from either me or someone else

My initial response was outrage that someone could write something like this so I started typing a scathing response

How dare they!

About how judgmental their comment was!

But then mid sentence I stopped......

I pressed delete and then blocked that person

Negativity breeds negativity and she almost sucked me into that

My "success" now looks a lot different

I don't follow what 95% of the population do

I now lead the way on the path less trodden and I have set up signposts for you to follow

So yes I was lied too

But most of these people were lied to too

And yes it took me 15 years to figure it out

But I have another 50 years to live a different way now right?

So what does "success" mean to you?

Nik x

P.S. Download my free 90 Day Planner that I use to help me to gain complete clarity to reduce overwhelm

P.P.S. Come Join my Balance Junkies Facebook Group where I spent most of my time

P.P.P.S. When you're ready to work with me to get complete clarity on your future vision to remove your overwhelm with my 90 day online mastermind programme. Join the wait list for the January start.