Today, I was reflecting on how I am living my life. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude came rushing in. I made so many choices to come to this point, and I couldn’t be more grateful for all the failures and doubts that led me here.
Every single decision I made was meant to be that way. First of all, I quit during the third year of my Bachelor’s studies when I was 23 years old to pursue a backpacker life in Australia. Then, I came back home to the Netherlands to finish my degree when I was 26 years old, against all the advice of my mentors that I wouldn’t be able to pick up where I had left off three years ago.
But I did pull it off. I had the most beautiful life lessons in Australia, and didn’t come home for three years straight. And I still finished my degree.
Quitting my dream job
I then landed my dream job (or so I thought) at an NGO in Amsterdam, finally realized I was unhappy after working in that office for two years, so I quit and moved to New Zealand. Again, against all the advice of everybody around me. I was 29 at the time, in the full swing of the start of a successful career.
After breaking up with my first serious boyfriend, who came with me to New Zealand, I traveled to Central America, worked on sailboats in the Caribbean, and moved to Mexico when I was 31, where I met a soulmate who turned my life upside down.
I felt like all my previous decisions had led me there. Every tiny little change in any of those decisions would have changed the course of my entire life.
I guess they call it the butterfly effect.
What’s meant for you won’t pass you by
But this is not a story about my life. It’s meant to inspire you when you feel stuck at the moment. When you dream of doing something completely different but don’t dare to. When you are afraid to make the wrong decision.
I am here to tell you: there is no wrong decision. Every decision is the right one. You just have to make it.
The only bad thing you can do for yourself is not make any decision at all. The Universe will keep sending you signs to do it, but you still have to pull the trigger.
And that trigger is the chain reaction to everything meant to be in your life.
Feeling stuck
I think it’s fair to say that most of us feel stuck in our society nowadays. In our jobs, with our partner, in our lives, in our living situation. It starts with a little discomfort. You feel unappreciated. You do your best, but nobody seems to notice.
The discomfort turns into bad moods at some point. You feel angry and misunderstood. Why does life for everyone else seem to go so smoothly?
After not listening to the bad moods, depression kicks in. This is the third sign of the Universe that something needs to change. But everything is going ‘fine’, right? There is not really any reason to pack your bags and go.
Or is there?
Listening to your heart
I think the problem with a situation like this is that you forget to listen to your heart. After all, you’ve made it this far already — why change now?
But here’s one thing I learned on my journey: it is never (or always) the perfect time to change. You either do it or you don’t. And if you don’t, life will just keep getting harder.
And if you do, life will also get hard, because change is not easy. But change is the only thing we can be certain of, and it’s begging you to surrender to it.
It really takes only one decision to turn your life around. Quit that job. End that relationship. Sell that house. File that divorce. Just do it.
The Universe will support you
I know many of you will say that it’s not that easy when you have a family, a mortgage, a debt, a needy partner, or whatever external reason you can think of.
But it all starts with you. Nobody else will do it. I made many “wrong” decisions in my life, and it always worked out. Because the Universe rewards those who don’t let their lives slide by.
I have quit soul-sucking jobs despite not having any savings, trusting that I would find a way. I have ended relationships with guys who wanted to marry me, trusting that something better was out there.
And there always was.
Starting from scratch
I have moved to five different countries on three different continents, starting from zero each time. If I can do it five times, you surely can make that one decision that you have been wanting to make for decades.
And when you do, everything shifts. Because that decision is not just one decision. It’s the start of going after what you deserve. If you are not happy in your current situation, you are the only one who can change it.
I wish I could tell you how everything will always work out. And even if it doesn’t, it still shifts your life in the right direction. Because it started with that decision that you needed to make.
Don’t let your life slip by
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: your life will just pass by if you don’t make (hard) decisions. This research from the neuroscience field claims that depression is actually the hunger for an awakening.
We are meant to have a higher connection with the Universe, God, spirit, or whatever you want to call it. If we lack that connection, our brain is more prone to depression.
According to the studies of Lisa Miller (professor, researcher, and clinical psychologist), “Each of us is endowed with a natural capacity to perceive a greater reality.”
This means the Universe will guide each of us. You just have to be open to it.
The nudges of the Universe
I used to be the most unspiritual person out there. I did not believe in higher forces or things that “were meant to be”. But after my spiritual awakening, I know that everything is meant to be.
If you feel those nudges of the Universe, listen. You are unhappy for a reason. You feel drained for a reason. You question the meaning of your life for a reason.
The reason is that you need to make a decision. Even if it seems to be the hardest thing to do right now, do it. We learn the most in our darkest times.
And after that dark time, you will notice that you are still breathing. You didn’t die.
How could you have died from a life you were not living anyway?
Trust and surrender
We do really attract what we send out. If you are in a low vibration right now, low vibration is what you will get back. I know what that feels like. It’s a horrible place to be in.
Nothing seems to be working out. And once we are there, it’s really hard to get out of it. It feels like the whole weight of the world is on your shoulders. You feel paralyzed to even do anything about it.
But if you just make that one decision that you know you need to make, I promise you that life will shift.
Trust and surrender to what is meant for you is just one decision away.
Go out there and make it.
If you’re craving a deeper connection with yourself and feel ready to begin again, I highly recommend this course. If you’re ready for a reset, this might be just what you need.
Read next:
