La Dolce Vita – The Sweet Life
La Dolce Vita! Living My Best Life! I am striving to live my life with authenticity and purpose. What does it mean? The concept is not new to me. Just a different way of saying we are living La Dolce Vita. But more importantly, Allan and I are striving to Live Our Best Lives and Best Relationship. Simple everyday life can feel amazing when we are living with purpose!
To me, Living Our Best Life means that we are living the life we imagined both as a couple and as individuals. Doing the things that are important to us (or striving to that end) and being with the people we want to be with now. Not at some arbitrarily chosen time in the future. And not someone else’s or society’s idea of what “our best life” is but what we have decided “our best life” is. The key phrase here is “our life.” Not someone else’s!
No, everything in our life is not perfect all of the time. But we are always working toward our “best life” or “la dolce vita” all of the time!
Creating the life we imagined requires ongoing commitment, personal growth, balance.
Commitment
Commitment to ourselves, each other, our family, and to our dreams and goals. On New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, (or even weeks later) Allan and I reflect on the past year and share our goals for the coming year. It’s important that we are on the same page and that we support each other.
Committing to goals and living a balanced life is much easier when we share our goals. I’m a list maker! I believe in to-do lists. For today, for tomorrow, for 5 years from now. And I have always used a calendar. Organization has an incredible impact on our ability to achieve our goals.
Personal Growth
We need to make time for personal growth. Personal growth experienced as a couple and as an individual strengthens a relationship. It is important to discover what really interests us and makes us feel alive. We each have our own interests we pursued over the years and still enjoy. As a couple, Allan and I have taken ballroom dance lessons, exercise classes, committed to eating clean, traveled the world. We grew together as we made new memories and took on new challenges.
Balance
The Italians have long had a phrase for the way they approach life – “la dolce vita.” It’s not just about work – it’s also about enjoying your life and living the “sweet” life.
Over the years, both Allan and I have struggled with work/life balance. One of the key ingredients of well-being and essential for our happiness is balance in life.
We need to satisfy all our needs. If some or any of our needs go unmet we end up feeling unbalanced and stressed.
- Work – We need to work. We need to produce, create and feel a sense of accomplishment.
- Life – We need to take care of ourselves. We need to eat healthy, exercise, get enough sleep. We need to spend time together and alone and with family and friends. We need to spend time in nature.
Over the years two things have helped me more than anything else to maintain balance.
- Learning to say, No.
- Making time for myself.
- Be okay with doing nothing. This was a tough one for me. And it’s even tougher for people around you to honor. https://theblissfulmind.com/art-of-doing-nothing/
Living Your Best Life is different for everyone. We all have different goals and different dreams. You get to discover La Dolce Vita! Your Best Life!