A Decade in Review: Top 9 Things I Learned about Life and Success

Hi Guys!
I have written a few versions of this post already, but today (12/30) I feel like it is the right time to pull these posts together.

The life I had in 2009 was completely different than where I am today. And from 2010 – 2012 was 2 years of radical transformation where SO much happened, I don’t even know how so much could happen in 2 years. But my life post-2013 (moving to Chicago) has felt the same and sometimes it feels like nothing changed (even though so much did). It is a weird feeling.

Here are a few highlights of my last 10 years:

+Joined a Sorority – 2010
+Met my Future Husband – 2012
+Graduated from College – 2012
+Moved to Chicago from ND – 2013
+Started my Blog– 2014
+Bought a Condo -2014
+Re-Launched Chelsea Jolene – 2015
+Traveled all over the US (San Diego, Hawaii, Denver) – 2016
+ Lost my Dad to Cancer 🙁 – 2017
+Sold my 1^st Condo  – 2017
+ Took Anatomy and Physiology and Dropped out of School – 2018
+Bought a House – 2018
+ Studied under a Functional Medicine Practitioner and Re-launched Chelsea Jolene Wellness, LLC – 2019
+ Married my Best Friend – 2019

A big part of me that has changed is my health and truly taking care of my body. Back in 2009 I didn’t know what being healthy meant. I believed health equaled eating less and working out more. Diet culture had me lost which is why I am so passionate about exposing them. And I was chasing perfection in all areas of my life and that was a recipe for misery.

Today, I can say that I have peace and freedom in my body. Everything has finally clicked, and I have so much priceless value to share with you all! I know my story is meant to help others which is why I am here. Again, everything happens for a reason and I have deeply known this all along. <3

Cheers to the 30’s:

This is not only the end of the decade but the beginning of my 30s era. (I turned 30 on Dec 3rd) And as I look back at the last 10 years, I see a woman who wasn’t afraid to get messy. And that is one thing I am proud of.

I learned so much in the last decade and I will share what I would want my 20-year-old self to know.

1. Everything Happens as It Should.

I truly believe that everything happens the way it is meant to happen. I believe you cannot “mess” up your life. And every choice is meant to happen for you, not to you. But I also believe that the choices we make are up to us. And it is up to us to learn from our past and set intentions on the life we want to create. I believe that we are responsible for our actions, but at the same time, we don’t need to get bitter about the choice we made in the past. That choice you made wasn’t a failure but one more lesson to add to the list.  Life is messy. If you aren’t learning in life, what are you doing???

2. Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself.

This is a tricky balance of feeling gratitude for all you have accomplished. And choosing to not feel bad that you didn’t achieve enough. This is something I struggle with because I always feel like I haven’t done enough. My mind whispers these thoughts, but deep inside I know better. This goes back to #1, everything happens as it should. Work hard and realize when you have too high expectations on yourself. I have a past of putting high expectations on myself. Back in 2008-2009, I excessively abused caffeine so I could work out 2 hours a day and then I would eat high protein and high veggies every day. I learned a lot during this time, and it has taught me to give myself more grace. We are all doing the best we can.

3. Don’t Do Things Out of Fear of Not Being Enough.

Have you ever panicked and bought or did something because you were afraid of being left behind? Do you have a deep need to achieve and do things, so you scramble together something at the last minute? Anytime you feel this panic or feeling of not enough-ness, that is a sign to disregard what it wants you to do. The voice of fear is not a voice to listen to when it comes to success and happiness. Instead, you need to focus on why you don’t feel enough and remind yourself that you don’t have to do a damn thing to earn value and love.

4. Understanding my Human Design

HD has blown my mind and I have learned so much about how to listen to my intuition and figure out how I should live my life. There are 5 types and I am a generator in human design. This means that I have sacral energy and when I get excited and follow what lights me up, that energy than lights up other people. And it is my job to do things that give me a feeling of “uh huh”. That feeling is a sign of where I am meant to spend my time and energy. This works for simple things like food to life decisions.  

My human design also taught me that I have a strong sense of touch to know if it is right for me. For example, I have wasted 100s of dollars buying clothes online. My order comes in the mail and I touch it and instantly know I will hate it.  Now I shop only at the store and I touch everything and instantly know whether I should bother trying on or not. I do the same thing at the grocery store and when I get a hit of excitement, I buy that food. I save money doing this and it makes decisions so much easier. (especially non-life changing decisions like buying clothes and food)

5. Be Consistent and Good Things Take Time

This has been drilled into my head for the last few years. I wish I knew this back in 2013 when I first started this blog. I am highly emotional so I wasted so much time going back and forth from feeling so excited about everything I wanted to achieve to feeling miserable because I couldn’t work on my blog 24/7 to feeling exhausted about everything I had to learn. It was a roller coaster. Today, I know so much about blogging, business, and nutrition. I have studied this stuff day in a day out for the last 7 years. There is so much more to know, but my focus must now switch to content and more content. I need to put out more content than ever before and stay consistent.

Anything worthwhile to achieve takes consistency and hard work. And again, I could be hard on myself for not realizing this sooner but again #1.

6. Stop Consuming All the Time and Living on Social Media.  

We live in an information addicted society. I feel the addiction daily. I had to a lot to learn in the last 10 years so reading piles of books, listening to every podcast, investing in courses, keeping up with social, was necessary. The amount you can absorb is overwhelming. I learned a lot, but there comes a point when you are ready to stop consuming. Today I am working on managing my social media addiction, yet still using it for business purposes. (this is really hard) And I want to create more content which means that I have to scroll less. Creating > Consuming 
This is a topic I will discuss more as I figure it out.

7. Be Happy with Today and Be Present.

Living in the future doesn’t work. (because you can’t) Focus on accepting exactly where you are today and being grateful for what you have now. The reality is we will always be striving for something else. That something won’t necessarily bring happiness. It is up to you to choose happiness today. Life is short. I don’t know what will happen in the next 10 years.

8. Get Messy.

Social media has us all believing that everyone else’s life is perfect. Many of us are chasing this perfection to keep up. And what for? Life is supposed to be messy. We are supposed to take risks. Invest in yourself and your future. Try things that scare you. Follow what lights you up. (even if it doesn’t make sense.) I used to chase perfection..the perfect body, perfect grades, perfect clothes, blah blah blah. That stuff bores me. I will never be the nutrition consultant who shows you how to obtain abs. I won’t love you more for having a 4.0 in school and I sure won’t think of you any differently. These things don’t make us better people instead they distract us on why we are really here.

9. The Choice is Yours.

I am going to end with 9 because less is more. I would rather give my best value than just something to fill the page.

The choice is up to us. It is our responsibility to see life and choose how we respond to it. Playing the victim card is a card I refuse to play. Losing my dad has been very hard, but I fully trust that it happened for a greater reason that I don’t fully understand right now. Back in 2007, I lost my best friend to cancer and her death spiraled me towards the chase of perfection and obtaining perfect health. I wouldn’t have the story and who I am today without that happening. Good things can happen from sad things. Life happens for us and that is something I will truly believe. The choice is up to us on how we respond.

There you go! Those have been some life lessons in the last 10 years. 🙂 I cannot wait to see what the next 10 brings me. What is one thing you learned in the last 10 years? Comment below and share with me. 🙂

xoxo
Chelsea