Follow your bliss was the phrase that I kept hearing inside my head after I felt lost, anxious, and overwhelmed.
I remember feeling scared at the thought of a complete lifestyle change if I did follow my bliss. But I instinctively clung on to the idea because it was simple and felt right to me.
I followed my bliss, along with a few simple lifestyle changes that helped me heal, and I’m going to share how I did it with you.
Why Is It Important To Follow Your Bliss?
Bliss, by definition, is “perfect happiness and great joy”. Joseph Campbell once said, “If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”
I dreamed of becoming a writer but never thought I was good enough. I was also afraid of what people might think if they ever read my stuff.
I’m glad that I didn’t let my fear stop me because I never would have dreamed that people would be helped by the things that I wrote.
To follow your bliss is to follow your dreams and trust that everything will work out for your greater good.
How To Follow Your Bliss
1. Be Willing To Learn
Whether you’re on a healing journey, self-discovery journey, or anything that will require learning and change, be willing to learn.
Keep an open mind and stay curious about the process. You never know where insights might come from and lead to.
2. Overcome Fear
Fear is the four-letter word that stops us from changing and trying new things. It’s natural and okay to feel this way and is an emotion that is meant to protect you from danger and harm.
But if you don’t overcome it, it becomes a form of resistance and can keep you from making meaningful change.
The next time you feel fear, ask yourself, “What is the alternative if I don’t follow my bliss? What will happen if I don’t follow my heart?”
3. Celebrate Small Wins
Celebrating your wins, no matter how small, always feels good. I forget to do it myself sometimes because I’m so focused on getting results. I also feel like I’m bragging if I celebrate them.
But when you look back and celebrate the little things you accomplished, it actually helps you keep your momentum going and even injects some joy and fun in your life.
4. Take Action
I’m the kind of person that is slow to take action because I think I’m protecting myself, which might be true to a small degree, but it generally stops me from taking action.
Taking action, no matter how small, helps the needle move forward and is the only way you can truly live a life that feels like you.
5. Stop The Comparison Game
They say comparison is the thief of joy and it’s true. But it’s something we do all the time. We know it’s not good for us, yet we keep doing it.
I haven’t figured out why this behavior is necessary, but I do know that we can do it too much and it can affect our confidence and self-esteem.
As hard it as might be, stop the comparison game and remember that there’s no one else like you and the world needs your unique gifts and talents.
6. Keep It Fun
When I hear the word fun, I always think back to my childhood and the things that children do. We lose that sense of fun as we get older and I think it’s kind of tragic when we think of it as childish.
Think of all the ways you can add joy and fun to your life and your work. It helps you stay the course if you’re trying to change and gets you through the ups and downs that life can bring.
How I Followed My Bliss
I remember feeling pure bliss after waking up one morning when my first born son was a few months old. At the time, those four weeks were the hardest of my life but that morning just felt like I was living my ideal life and everything was in perfect alignment career wise and personally.
My son grew a little older and we purchased our first home. Soon after we had our second child. Our little family grew and so did our responsibilities and obligations. It around this point that I started living life on autopilot because life got busy.
Those moments of bliss became fewer and further between and I didn’t even realize it. As time went on I felt unsettled. But I was so busy with life that I didn’t have time to stop and think about it.
After my third child, I grew more and more lost, anxious and overwhelmed. The little voice that kept telling me to follow my bliss grew louder and louder until I finally decided to listen to it.
The first thing I did was journal. I mentioned before that it was something I loved as a kid and stopped for a long time.
I remembered how helpful it was, so I started writing just a few lines a day. I kept it up until I had enough to reflect on and see patterns that led up to the lost, anxious, and overwhelmed feelings.
Through self-reflection, mindfulness, and self-discovery, I was able to process my feelings and figure out who I really was under all my hats and titles.
Following my bliss also helped me find my purpose in life and take better care of myself by fulfilling my needs and desires.
Letting go
In addition to following my bliss, I let go of a lot of things, physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially, in order to heal.
I let go of trying to be in control all the time. I let go of trying to look happy and positive all the time even when I didn’t feel like it.
I let go of striving to look or be perfect all the time because it’s downright difficult. I let go of trying so hard to blend in all the time. I let go of looking for love outside of myself.
Loving myself
In order to follow my bliss, I had to love myself more. I used to think that I had to get everything I ever wanted in order to have a fulfilling life.
I realized that it needed to be more than just accumulating stuff and status. Love was the missing piece of the puzzle.
When I decided to follow my bliss, my mental, emotional and spiritual health came into alignment. My life had a greater purpose and a clearer focus.
Learning how to love myself help me fill my cup and have enough left to give to others.
The Takeaway
When I decided to follow my bliss, I admit that I was scared. I didn’t know where to begin or how to go about it. The thing that scared me the most was I didn’t know where my path would take me and I was going to be a big failure.
But then I asked myself, “What do I have to lose if I try?” It felt like an even greater loss than not having tried at all. I had to trust that everything I needed to succeed was already inside of me. If I needed help and guidance, someone or something will come along at the perfect time to help me.
It’s a big leap of faith to follow your bliss. You won’t know where the path will lead you and that feels scary. But if you can overcome your fear, what waits for you on the other side, like Joseph Campbell said, is “the life that you ought to be living.”
More Ways To Follow Your Bliss
Thanks for reading! If you want to take a deeper dive into following your bliss, read How to find your bliss when you don’t know where to start.
