What is Chasing Wonderment? (and how do you do it?)
When someone asks me, “What is Chasing Wonderment?” I get so excited! Simply put, Chasing Wonderment is about living on purpose. It can take a lot of different pieces to put the “puzzle” together of an intentional life. Keep reading to find out how you can start Chasing Wonderment today!
Prefer to listen? Press play below!
Whenever I’m asked about Chasing Wonderment, I have to start with a definition:
Remember when you were a kid, and everything seemed so… Magical? Catching fireflies on a summer night was the best thing ever — the small, simple things in life were full of wonder. That’s the feeling of wonderment.
Girl, I want you to LOVE your life!
I want you to enjoy your days, to love your work, and I hope that you're excited to get out of bed in the morning! Chasing Wonderment is about learning how to do that — to chase after that feeling of wonder and delight — in the middle of your everyday (sometimes messy!) life.
But… this is where it gets tricky. Because Chasing Wonderment is different for Every. Single. Person. So…
HOW do you Chase Wonderment?
I have found that there are a few areas of life that get out of balance and cause us to lose intentionality. (And, yeah, there are probably a lot more that I haven’t discovered yet!) In this article, I’ll just quickly talk about each one, and I’m willing to bet one will stand out the most to you.
YOU NEED A VISION!
It can be really hard to discover a vision for your life — especially if you’ve lost it for awhile. I struggled with finding vision, and re-discovering it after depression was a long journey. If you don’t have a clear vision for the KIND of life you want to live, you’ll struggle to live intentionally. Because… How do you AIM somewhere if you don’t know where you’re going?
This is where a LOT of women get hung up. If you’re lacking vision, there’s a good chance you’re stuck in the “weeds” of your life — going to work, taking care of your house, shuttling the kids — you’re constantly doing “the next thing” and you haven’t pulled back the lens to see if you’re in the right forest!
Please hear me: I’m not telling you to walk away from your life because you’re not 100% incandescently happy. But if you pull back the lens and realize that your life doesn’t look anything like how you want it to, then you need to spend some time getting clear on what kind of lifestyle you want! I’ve found that massive changes aren’t usually needed — Once you have a clear vision, simple shifts are often the most life-changing.
YOU NEED SIMPLICITY!
Sometimes life is just Too Dang Complicated, am-I-right? My battle with complicated ended in early 2016, when I discovered Slow Living. I began slowing everything in my life down… and it was life-changing. I quickly saw that I was overcommitting, people-pleasing, lacking boundaries, and that our home was cluttered and full of STUFF.
If your life is complicated, you probably wake up and feel like everything (and everyone!) is coming AT YOU. You need to do that thing, and as soon as you finish it… something or someone else needs your attention. You don’t have enough hours in the day, and you’re constantly feeling overwhelmed. Don’t even MENTION the house… by the time you’re done taking care of everyone and everything, you’re too exhausted to try to organize the toys!
Simplifying isn’t about cutting everything important out of your life… it’s about taking a few steps back so you can evaluate what’s important — and why it’s important to you — so you can BETTER serve the people you love! (And to be better able to enjoy your life!)
YOU NEED A PLAN!
You’ve GOT to have a plan to create the lifestyle you want! This is where Goal-Setting comes in —it’s like the road-map for the lifestyle you want. It’s not just about working towards a random goal— Goal Setting is about creating a plan to get you closer to an intentional life, and having a list of daily, actionable steps to actually GET THERE.
When I first started learning about goal-setting, I quickly found out that it’s usually taught to business owners and the fitness industry. Setting goals for business or fitness is fairly straightforward, but it’s HARD to quantify an Intentional Life. I always recommend starting with VISION first — so you understand the kind of life you want to live.
Once you know where you’re going, the process of goal-setting helps you get crystal-clear on how to get there. You pick one thing to focus on for a month or two, and then narrow that focus until you have a clear goal, a few big stepping stones, and a to-do list of daily action steps. Having a process for setting goals is what helps you actually achieve the lifestyle you’re dreaming of!
YOU NEED TO REVIEW.
Alright, you’re clear on your vision, you’re doing the work… and one day you look up and realize that somehow… you’ve gotten off-track. Intentional Living requires constant reviewing, and re-evaluating. When I first started living intentionally, I thought “Okay. I’ve got a vision. I’ve got a plan. Now I just go and DO IT!” And then a few months in, I realized… I had lost my way. I wasn’t aligned, I wasn’t as focused, and I needed to re-evaluate.
I spent quite a while trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I felt like I was being wishy-washy, because I kept going back to the vision-casting and goal-setting processes OVER and OVER again. But I’ve realized that living intentionally requires consistent re-evaluation. It’s about making SURE that you’re on the right path. That you’re still focusing on the right goal. That you’re making space for the natural ebb and flow of life.
This is why Reviewing is SO powerful. Over the past few years, I’ve found ways to review & check in — so that I’m being as intentional as possible. If I’m having an “off” day, I’ll go through some feelings Journal Prompts to pinpoint what’s up. If I’m feeling un-aligned, I’ll review my vision and goals and see if there’s an imbalance. If you learn how to check in with your life on a consistent basis, you’ll discover a new level of focus that you didn’t know was possible!
YOU NEED A GROWTH MINDSET
Mindset is EVERYTHING. Literally. Are you struggling to get moving? Mindset. Feeling like you’re not good enough? MINDSET. Please hear me: Your Mindset is CRITICAL to living intentionally. The trouble with mindset is that it’s not something you figure out and then you’re good forever… it’s a never-ending process of learning and growing.
When I first started learning about having a growth mindset, my brain basically exploded. 🤯 Our brains have such incredible power, and I understood why the Bible says to “take every thought captive.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)! The tricky thing about mindset is that you often don’t notice the lies until they’ve tricked you into believing that they’re true.
Just like reviewing, you’ll never be “done” with your mindset work. But: Once you understand HOW your brain works, and what to do about the lies you’ve been believing… everything can change. You can learn how to capture your thoughts, break down the lies, and speak the TRUTH over yourself. And I think you’ll see incredible changes in your life as you begin to work on your mindset. (Want to learn more? Click here to learn How to change your mindset!)
YOU NEED HABITS.
I’ve got to be 100% honest: I’m still working on this. I’ve struggled with habits (or rather, a lack of them!) for YEARS. But the whole point of intentional living isn’t about “having it all together.” It’s about figuring out which puzzle pieces you need to live a purposeful, joyful life. And Habits are the most recent addition to my puzzle!
Here’s what I’m learning about habits: Habits are like glue — they help bridge the gap between the kind of the life you want to live — and the less fun parts of actually getting there. (Like exercising or being consistent about folding the laundry.) They are the secret sauce that holds your intentional life in place.
The most important thing I’ve learned about habits is that you need to find your OWN way to create them. I’ve tried everyone else’s “methods” but none of them ever stuck — I tried the schedules, the time-blocking, and the “perfect day” pages in my bullet journal. The other secret to building great habits is to GO. SLOWLY. If you try to create a ton of change at one time, it’s just too much! Habit Stacking LINK is a great place to start.
