Striving For Felicity

Personal Growth, Success + Lifestyle Tips

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9 Hardships You Have To Face In Life

Blog, Personal Development, Well-Being

Life consists of ups and downs. No matter how much you shield yourself, sooner or later, you will have to face hardships.

However, hard times also have something positive about them. You grow as you experience them. They make you a stronger and better person.

Striving for Felicity 9 hardships you have to face in life

Yes, tough times are often very painful, and it can be hard to see them in any positive light whatsoever when you are experiencing them.

That’s where this article will help.

The following list will help you not only to prepare yourself mentally but, more importantly, train yourself to see the hard times in a more positive light.

So get yourself a comfortable seat and open your mind to rethink your opinions on these problems.

1. Failure

If you have never experienced any kind of failure in your life, I’d be seriously worried. That would imply that you’ve never tried something new and that the people around you are not honest with you.

Failure is simply part of life. There is no growth in life without failure. A good metaphor for that is the heart rate monitors you can see in those hospital series.

If the heart beats steadily, the line goes up and down and up and down. 

Everything is fine. If something good or bad happens, the heartbeat may pick up its pace, and the ups and downs will be higher and lower, but still, it only shows that the person is alive.

However, when they die, the line is suddenly flat.

Life is meant to have ups and downs, successes, and failures. If it would all follow a straight path, we wouldn’t be living.

Whenever you face failure, there are two things you need to remember:

  1. Failure means that you’ve lived. You have had an experience. Use it to learn valuable life lessons and move on.
  2. Failure brings you one step closer to success. There isn’t one successful person out there that hasn’t failed along the way. In some cases, those failures have been absolutely shattering. Still, successful people move on and keep up the hard work, and so can you!

2. Death of a Loved One

Whether it is your grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, or pets, sooner or later, you will be confronted with one of them passing away.

Sometimes it will come out of nowhere and will disrupt your whole world.

Other times, it is the result of a long and arduous battle with health issues, and you might at least find some solace in the knowledge that they don’t have to suffer anymore.

Whatever the situation, losing a loved one brings immense pain; there is no sugarcoating that.

However, you should remind yourself that this pain, too, will pass to a great extent. Think about all these people worldwide who have lost loved ones and managed to still make life worth living.

But most importantly, take this as a reminder to spend as much time as possible with your loved ones.

Earning money is significant and rewarding, but if it comes at the cost of losing too much of the precious time with the people you hold dear, what is it all for?

From this tragedy on, maybe you can finally commit to at least calling each of your loved ones once a week. Maybe commit to meeting them at least once a month.

Just try to spend as much time with them as possible so that when this hardship comes, none of you has any regrets.

3. Someone Betrays your Trust

There probably will come a moment in your life when someone betrays your trust.

Whether it is a friend bitching behind your back, your significant other cheating on you, or your child throwing a house party when you trusted them to take care of their younger sibling.

You will feel hurt, disappointed, insecure, or angry if that moment comes.

You might scold yourself for ever having placed that trust. And you will have to ask yourself, is this temporary pain enough of a reason to never trust again?

The answer to that should be NO. What would life be like without trust? I don’t imagine it very fulfilling. We all need a support system, and that requires a certain level of trust.

Take this hardship as it is, and learn your lesson from it. Depending on how deeply the betrayal was, you might have to let go of that person.

If they were willing to exploit your trust to such an extent, then they are not worth your love and time. Your life will be better without them.

However, if you are willing to forgive them, this might be the beginning of a deeper relationship.

Yes, it will take a lot of effort to work through those new trust issues, but it will be worth it if it is the right person.

4. Physical Pain

Again, if you have never experienced this, you might not live life to the fullest.

Physical pain hurts like hell! Everybody who has had the pleasure of stubbing their toe knows that.

However, physical pain can also be a good thing. It shows you how much you can endure, which is a hell of a lot more than you probably think.

And it also brings back some awareness regarding the importance of your beautiful body.

Take care of it! Because it enables you to live this beautiful life.

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5. Emotional Distress

If you are trying to achieve big things, you will have to deal with stress, overwhelm, anxiety, depression, disappointment, doubt, guilt, and many more negative emotions.

However, just like failure, they are absolutely worth it! If a temporary unease is a price to pay for an extraordinary life, then that is a meager price.

If you commit to mastering your emotions and dedicating time to self-care, you will come out of your emotional distress as a stronger and more resilient person. You will develop inner strength that will be one of your most powerful assets in the future.

The mountains you are now able to climb are much bigger than before.

6. Aging

Our modern society has become very bad at handling aging. People view it as the decay of beauty, health, strength, abilities, and intellect.

Nowadays, thousands of people frantically jump to Botox as soon as they notice the first wrinkles appear; others refuse to talk about their age or even lie about it.

As many ancient cultures did, we finally need to see aging as something positive again.

Aging comes with increased patience, spiritual awareness, and wisdom.

And if you take care of yourself mentally and physically, you can be way more athletic and smart than most of the elderly people we see around us daily.

You only need to do some research on it. There are so many old people out there who can still live an incredible life.

I recently watched a documentary showing an over 100-year-old Chinese man who rides around the village with his bicycle daily.

I can’t even imagine some 80-year-olds riding a bicycle!

Let this remind you that you can influence the kind of life you will live in 40, 50, or 60 years.

Every time you fear aging, let that remind you to live healthily.

And start believing that you will become a healthy and happy 100-year-old person. Your thoughts shape your reality. If you expect to be a rickety
80-year-old, guess how you will end up.

It has never been as easy as nowadays with biotechnology and easy access to health tips to live a long and healthy life. Use that to your advantage!

7. You Hurt Someone

One day or another, you will hurt someone. For example, you might hurt them with the careless words you spoke, disappoint them with your actions, or actually injure them physically by accident.

It will probably make you feel guilty, and you will scold yourself for it, but you should never ever lose yourself in regret.

Always remember: We make mistakes; that’s what makes us human. No human being is ever perfect.

What counts is that you make up for it with your actions afterward. Don’t just apologize. Prove that you are genuinely sorry and work on yourself never to make it happen again.

By the way, you might be interested in 15 Ways To Live A Life You Won’t Regret.

8. Difficult Family Members

As much as family is a blessing, most people have at least one rather difficult family member.

And yes, they can push your buttons like nobody else, but still, they are family. And instead of getting frustrated with their behavior, we should let it remind us to be grateful.

In Sacred Powers, davidji has said it best. He writes about how we should take every annoying behavior of our loved ones as “evidence of presence.”

One day, this loved one will be gone. Would they annoy you as much if you knew they would be gone from your life tomorrow? Still, I understand that this is not the best choice for every situation. Sometimes, it is important for your mental health and our happiness to cut a family member out of your life. But at least try to change your mindset beforehand.

Read also: Reading List for Personal Growth

9. Feeling Lost

Sometimes, it doesn’t require difficult life events to create hardships. Instead, you will look around you at one point in your life and simply feel lost. You will ask yourself what you are doing, what you really want in life, and if you are on the right track.

First of all, don’t despair! As quickly as this feeling can come, it can also disappear. However, don’t just wait for it to pass. Instead, take this feeling as a sign to think about your direction in life.

And yes, that might be scary, but it can lead to a happy life.

As you face this feeling of being lost, you will have to ask yourself one important question: Am I happy?

And if the answer is No, you have to ask yourself what you would want life to be like to be truly happy. You need to analyze your current situation from a new perspective.

If you are interested in similar questions to ask yourself, look at other Life-Changing Questions You Should Ask Yourself.

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10. Financial Hardships

Facing financial hardship is an inevitable part of adult life, pushing us into some of the toughest situations we encounter in our daily lives. It’s during these challenging moments that we often discover the best ways to emerge as a stronger person.

Coping with a difficult financial situation can be one of the hardest things we grapple with, as it forces us to confront some of the not-so-great aspects of life.

However, these trials become opportunities for growth, teaching us valuable lessons in budgeting, saving, and resourcefulness, ultimately shaping our financial acumen and making us more resilient in the face of adversity.

Those were the 10 Hardships You Have To Face In Life; I hope this list gives you the courage to face the difficult times ahead.

You should always remember that every moment can be good or bad; it depends on your mindset.

And if you are a bit more spiritual, it also helps to remember that the universe has reasons for sending you specific experiences. You might not be able to see it yet, but they will lead you towards a better life.

As always, I hope you keep creating the extraordinary life of your dreams; I believe in you!

Until next time, Felicity Seeker!

17 Ways To Be A Successful Boss Lady

Blog, Success

Felicity Seekers like us strive to become a boss in every area of our life. However, many of us female Felicity Seekers want to do it while being in flow with our divine feminine energy. We want to be a Boss Lady.

If that’s you, don’t worry. I got you covered. In this article, I am going to list all the traits of a true Boss Lady, who crushes her goals and lives an extraordinarily happy and fulfilled life.

By the way, I purposefully avoided the terminology Girlboss. The reason for that is that I associate the word “girl” with immaturity, gossip, insecurities, and all those other things we struggle with in our teens.

And that is not something I want to strive for. No, I want to be a Boss Lady! And what exactly that includes, you will see down below.

I encourage you to be really honest with yourself while reading through this list. Which of these points do you got covered and where do you need improvement?

There is no shame in not being a complete Boss Lady, yet. I myself am still working on a few of these points. The only thing that matters is that you make little improvements each day. That way, you will look into the mirror, and before you know it, you will see a real Lady Boss in front of you!

1. A Boss Lady knows her worth

A true Boss Lady knows her worth. She is not settling for a comfortable relationship or a job that undervalues her. Women like her would rather wait years for the right man to come around instead of jumping in a relationship just to feel “complete”.

A Lady Boss is working on her self-worth daily and doesn’t need others to make her feel complete.

As Monica Yates so nicely put it in one of her Podcast episodes:

“Your relationship should only be the cherry on top of your otherwise perfectly sweet cupcake called life.”

The same goes for friends and your career. Stop being around people who do not see your true worth. And don’t go into a job that makes you feel like less unless you have to do it for a short amount of time and with an excellent reason.

It’s like those celebrities that appear in commercials for really shitty products. I always wonder how desperate they must be to lower their standards that much.

2. A Boss Lady is confident

This one is rather obvious, but a Boss Lady is confident! Whenever she enters a room, she does not worry what other people think of her.

She is not afraid to speak her opinion whenever necessary and has trust in her skills.

A woman like that is absolutely comfortable in her skin and is, therefore, able to live her life authentically.

Since confidence is very much a skill that needs to be developed and maintained, a Lady Boss regularly works on her confidence.

If you want to improve your confidence, check out my 12 Powerful Ways To Be Confident.

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3. She has manners

For some inexplicable reason, some people seem to think manners are old fashioned. News flash! They are just as relevant today.

Manners are a big part of the first impression you give people. They can make or break the deal you want to conclude and attract or repulse friends you wish to make.

I mean, would you like to spend time with someone who shovels down his food like a starved animal and speaks with a mouth full of food? What about people, who always interrupt you, do you want to spend more time with them? Or people who pick their nose in public.

In social situations, it is essential to have manners if you want to have harmonious and joyful interactions with others.

Luckily, having manners can be very easy, and you only need to follow a few basic rules:

  • Don’t interrupt others
  • Eat with both, knife and fork, and don’t lay one of them down
  • Place your napkin on your lap while you eat
  • Put a hand in front of your mouth while yawning
  • Don’t pick your nose, your teeth or your ear
  • Say “bless you”, when someone sneezes
  • Offer your seat for others in more need
  • . . .

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4. She is in alignment with her divine feminine energy

This separates a Boss from a Boss Lady. A Lady Boss is in alignment with her divine feminine energy.

She knows that life can flow effortlessly if she stops resisting her feminine energy. She has not only learned to embrace her creativity, intuition, and emotions but also how to deal with female things like her period in the healthiest way possible.

Women like that don’t think they need to copy men and their masculine way of handling life. They know that their feminine energy is valuable and powerful and are not afraid to embrace it to the fullest.

To improve at this point, check out 10 Ways To Tune Into Your Feminine Energy.

5. A Boss Lady has goals and a vision

A Boss Lady knows where she wants to go in life. Her plans may change from time to time, but she always has goals to work towards.

And let me tell you, those dreams can be gigantic! Women like that are not afraid to have dreams ordinary people call crazy. They know they need to have extraordinary goals to create the extraordinary life they deserve.

6. She knows how to dress well

First impressions matter. And your clothes can tell a whole story about the kind of person you are. A Boss Lady knows this and is always putting thought into her outfits.

But even more important than what other people think of her is her own opinion. A Lady Boss first and foremost dresses for herself.

She wants to feel sexy and badass and will dress that way whether or not other people are going to see her that day.

If her style is a bit unique, she embraces that as well. But she always watches her manners and never appears in inappropriate clothes to specific events.

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7. A Boss Lady knows how to handle herself

A Lady Boss is self-sufficient. She is very well able to handle herself in basic situations like changing a lightbulb, a flat tire, or traveling solo.

She also knows her limits. She would never drink herself into a coma or try to fix things she obviously can’t fix on her own. Before injuring herself out of pride, she calls for help, which brings us to the next point.

8. She can receive

A Boss Lady knows how much value she is putting into the world and therefore doesn’t feel bad for receiving some value back.

This is especially important when it comes to men. A Boss Lady doesn’t feel the need to top men or make them feel like less. She knows her worth and therefore can accept acts of service from men, like them holding open a door for her.

She is not requesting it, because as mentioned in the previous point, she can handle herself. But if they offer, she kindly accepts and doesn’t shut them down.

9. A Boss Lady can say “No”

… without feeling guilty. Not only does it save her an immense amount of time (as elucidated in 15 Ways To Spend Your Time Wisely) she also knows that she has the right to live her life the way she wants to.

She, therefore, only accepts offers that truly make her happy and are worth her time and effort.

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10. She fights among her soldiers

A Lady Boss has a tribe. She is not a lonely warrior because she knows that teamwork can get you way farther in life.

So while she might be the leader of her tribe, she knows how to act supportively. After all, a group is always only as strong as its weakest link.

Therefore a Boss Lady supports her fellow Felicity Seekers and tries to bring out their full potential. If one of them has a good idea, she doesn’t steal it from them but proudly and openly praises them for it.

Women like her don’t think of themselves as better than the people they employ.

11. She knows when to let go versus when to take no Sh#t

There are times when speech is silver, but silence is gold. You don’t need to comment on everything you hear and see. Especially, if people are trying to pick a fight and don’t even care for your arguments, why would you waste your time fighting a futile battle?

On the other hand, a Boss Lady doesn’t take sh#t from no one. If people cross her line, she is very much able and willing to defend herself and her loved ones fiercely.

12. She takes care of herself mentally and physically

A Boss Lady knows that financial success is only a small part of life in Felicity. She acknowledges that her body and mind enable her to experience this beautiful life and therefore deserve the utmost care.

Women like her dedicate a lot of time to self-care. They eat healthily, work out regularly and meditate, journal or do anything alike for mental health.

A Lady Boss is not afraid to consult specialists since she wants to be in optimal health as fast and as long as possible.

13. A Boss Lady lives with passion, love, and positivity

Life is too short to spend it with negative emotions. A Lady Boss wants to wake up every day with a smile on her lips and excitement in her heart.

She wants to live life with passion, love, and positivity. A woman like that knows that life is neither good nor bad, it all depends on your outlook. Therefore she takes the reins and makes life a positive experience.

She spreads love wherever she goes and tries to spend her time only with things that genuinely light up her soul.

Should you struggle with the negative emotion of Envy towards other people and their success 8 Simple Ways To Overcome Envy might help you.

14. A Boss Lady knows how to get Sh#t done!

Like a Lady Boss, you should be able and willing to work work work as Rihanna would say. You can change your mindset and do all the manifesting you want, but in the end, you have to put in the necessary work.

A Boss Lady is not afraid of working hard and at times will make some sacrifices for her work if necessary. But she’s careful not to overwork herself and always focuses on working smarter not harder.

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15. She’s not afraid to take her own path

While a Boss Lady can say “No” without feeling guilty, she is also very much able to say “Yes” to risky and unusual opportunities.

She knows that every opportunity is unique and could open up a whole new world for her. Therefore women like her rather risk failing at a new opportunity than regretting to have played it safe.

If you want to know how to avoid regrets in your life check out 15 Ways To Live A Life You Won´t Regret.

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16. She continually improves herself

Boss Ladies are very aware of the rapid changes our modern world goes through. They know that staying at the same level will only work for so long before they are left behind.

Hence a Lady Boss is not afraid to invest in herself whether it is through books, courses, seminars, or expensive coaches. She even reserves a significant amount of her income for education purposes, because she knows that this will keep her in the 1%.

If you are interested in stepping up your self-improvement game, take a look at my Reading List for Personal Growth. I regularly update it on all of my favorite non-fiction books.

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17. She is prepared to make sacrifices but knows not to make too many

On her way to an extraordinary life, a Boss Lady is willing to make sacrifices. However, a woman like her is always carefully focused on maintaining a healthy balance between sacrifices and the things that are important in life.

If the sacrifices are too big for a significant amount of time and jeopardize her health and relationships, she will instead take a step back than ruin other areas of her life.

After all, an extraordinary life means living your life in every area to the fullest.

So, what do you think? Are you already excited to become more of a Boss Lady yourself?

Adopting these traits will allow you to create the extraordinary life that you want not only quicker but also easier. After all, there is no real end result. It’s a continuous process, so you might as well enjoy it!

By the way, what do you like more, pictures or GIFs? Please tell me and I will be sure to include more of them ^^

Keep creating the extraordinary life you are dreaming of, Felicity Seeker!

Until next time,

Sophie.

10 Ways To Tune Into Your Feminine Energy – How To Feel More Feminine

Blog, Personal Development, Well-Being

In 2019, the big feminism wave has already hit us full force. Slowly, the tide is receding, leaving equal rights for women in its wake.

While equality per se sounds excellent, it has left both men and women with a few struggles. While we humans all deserve the same rights, we cannot expect men and women to behave in the same way. While the majority of women live in tune with their female energy, the majority of men rely on their amsculine energy.

Those differences are not wrong or harmful. On the contrary, they enable us humans to create wonderful things when each of us brings their uniqueness to the table.

So even though we women are nowadays given a chance to do and achieve the same things as men, we often think we have to do it in a masculine way.

Striving for Felicity 10 Ways To Tune into your feminine energy

We proudly declare that we can change the flat tires ourselves and that we can hustle our way to the top of the company.

While these are certainly important skills to have, they often force us to rely more heavily on our masculine than our feminine energy.

Therefore many women struggle nowadays to tune into their feminine energy.

To help you with that, here are 10 Ways To Tune Into Your Feminine Energy.

Some of these tips are more of a short term solution, while others can help you feel more feminine during your whole day.

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever recommend products that I have personally used and loved. Thank you for your support!

1. Move your body

Careful, I am not talking about running a marathon or kickboxing (although, of course moving your body in these ways is excellent for your overall health).

To tune into your feminine energy, you want to move your body in a more sensual way. You can do that through dancing, Yoga, figure skating, or other practices alike.

If in addition to that, you play some suitable music, you will feel more feminine in no time!

2. Surround yourself with nice materials

Another fantastic way to raise your feminine energy is to choose the materials you surround yourself with intentionally.

This is especially applicable for your clothes, but you can also utilize it with everything else around you.

For example, I am currently reading Sacred Powers by davidji, and the cover is made out of a soft material. Every single time I pick up the book, I take a moment to stroke the cover and cherish its softness. Sometimes I pick it up, without the intention of reading, just because it makes me so happy.

By the way, if you are interested in other non-fiction books, that I am reading, check out my Reading List For Personal Growth. I update it regularly on my favorite books.

Other objects where you might want to look out for the materials are your bedding, your chairs, carpets, blankets, pillows, or your handbags.

If you look at the physique of men and women, you can very easily see that women are shaped more softly. Therefore, softer and more delicate fabrics like silk, lace, and knits can emit a lot of feminine energy.

3. Wear sexy clothes

An important note here: I wrote sexy and NOT slutty!
I am not talking about lowering your neckline down to your belly button.

However, you might think about showing a bit of your decollete and wearing figure-enhancing clothes. Perhaps you ditch your leggings in favor of skirts and dresses from time to time.

The same goes for your footwear. Wearing shoes with a little bit of heel instead of sneakers makes you instantly feel sexier.

And get yourself beautiful lingerie, whether you are in a relationship or not. First and foremost, you are wearing it for yourself and not for others!

On that note, it is crucial that you only wear clothes that make YOU feel sexy. If you feel uncomfortable in heels or camisoles, don’t go out and buy a dozen of them. Either not wear them at all or slowly try to get used to the feeling of it.

The things I named above are simply ideas. If ripped jeans and sneakers make you feel sexy and feminine, go for it!

The most important thing is that you choose your clothes intentionally. You may feel comfy in some clothes, but they might give you a hard time feeling feminine.

4. Surround yourself with soft colors

Before you panic, no, I do not expect you to live in a pink Barbie palace and repaint your car pink.

But I believe we all can agree that a room in black, white, brown or neon green won’t feel very feminine.

If you want to feel more feminine on a daily basis, you should think about incorporating a few softer colors into your day.

This can be as little as using pastel markers instead of those bright neon markers. Again, just try to be a bit more intentional with the colors you surround yourself with.

For me, it happened unintentionally. Over time I just collected a few things in softer colors, like pastel, creme-white and soft grey. If I now take a second to look up from my laptop and look around my room, I am quite content with seeing those calming but joyful specks of color.

5. Light some candles

I suppose almost all of us can agree that candles have a romantic vibe. Placing candles around your room, hence, creates a sensual and calming atmosphere.

This can make you feel more in tune with your feminine energy after a long and stressful day.

6. Take a bath

Taking a bath can have the same effect. The soothing, warm water can do wonders for our tense bodies and overloaded minds.

You can even add some candles to the bath if you feel like it.

And if you are feeling really luxurious, maybe take your bath to a more extravagant level. You could do it Cleopatra style with milk and honey.

Or a bit more practical, get yourself some flower petals to throw on top of the water.

This can be a beautiful thing to experiment with after a long day of hard work. Try it for yourself!

7. Have a girls night

What could make you feel more in tune with your feminine energy than being around more feminine energy?

Don’t understand me wrong, men are great! And they definitely can make us feel sexy and feminine. But most of them will never be able to connect with our feminine energy as much as other women can. The same goes the other way around, of course.

Contact your girlfriends and schedule an evening at a nice restaurant, or do a wine tasting together, or a Yoga class or a course for cooking.

Again, experiment. You could rotate between one another so that each week or each month someone else out of your girlfriends has to plan the meeting.

8. Get creative

While masculine energy is very logical and organized, feminine energy is more creative and intuitive.

Therefore, spending some time on creative tasks can align you more with your divine, feminine energy.

And again, there are endless options on how to get creative. You can paint, draw, dance, cook, play an instrument, write fanfictions, decorate, do arts and crafts, create content, etc.

9. Feel your emotions

Feminine energy is tranquil and focuses on simply being versus doing. So stop doing things for once and just take a moment to be.

How are you feeling? Are you stressed, agitated, anxious, depressed or emotional? Or do you feel joyful, excited, loving, and at peace?

Your emotions tell you what your mind and body needs. Don’t ignore them. Don’t shut negative emotions out, by distracting yourself with your phone as soon as they come up. Really take the time to feel them.

Meditation and journaling are great tools to do that.

10. Be more intuitive and less structured

As mentioned above, feminine energy is very intuitive in contrast to the structured, logical, and striving masculine energy.

If you want to feel more in your feminine energy, try to let the reins slacken a bit. Don’t plan out every single second of your day. Leave room for improvisation.

Maybe today you feel like reading in the morning and meditating in the evening. Or perhaps you feel like indulging a bit longer in the series you are currently watching.

I know that it can be challenging to find the balance between living intuitively and planning your day so that you can crush your goals. This has very recently been a big struggle of mine.

Each day I want to study Law, work on this Blog, read a book, work out, meditate, journal, and go to bed early. This has caused me to create quite the strict routine over time so that if I lose myself in reading fanfictions from time to time, I already feel guilty and angry for “wasting“ my time.

However, I feel much happier and more aligned with my feminine energy whenever I stop pushing myself so hard and allow myself to be.

So don’t be so hard on yourself!

That’s already it. I hope these 10 tips help you Felicity Seekers embrace your feminine energy.

Never believe you need to act like a man to reach your goals! It is very much possible to achieve the extraordinary life you want by being a feminine badass woman.

With that, I hope you continue creating the extraordinary life you want with ease and grace!

Until next time,

Sophie

12 Ways To Find Inspiration When You Are In A Rut

Blog, Success

Do you feel tired? Are you bored of doing the same things day after day for weeks on end? Let me help you find a new inspiration!

Because inspiration makes life more exciting and motivates us to pursue new goals.

striving for felicity 12 ways to find inspiration

Whether you are an artist, a student, a CEO, or a factory employee, you probably love to be inspired. But especially as an entrepreneur, inspiration is essential.

Entrepreneurs are creators. To consistently create new things, you need a certain degree of inspiration, or your ideas will eventually run out.

If you struggle to find inspiration at times, this article is for you.
Here are 12 Ways To Find Inspiration. Enjoy!

1. Listen to music

Music seems to flow through our blood. Somehow, we humans have always been delighted by listening and making music.

Therefore it isn’t shocking that many people use music to get inspired.

Now, you are probably thinking, “I am already listening to music. Nothing is inspiring about it”.

In that case, I can only assume you keep listening to the same songs over and over again. I tend to get bored once I do that for more than one or two weeks.

Here is my tip for you: Listen to some old favorites that remind you of past times. Dig deep into your playlists and find the songs you haven’t listened to in a long time. 

I am always surprised by the thoughts and emotions an old song can stir in me.

If you don’t have a Playlist, go to Spotify. I have been using the free Spotify version on my laptop for a while now, and annoying ads aside, there is no need to pay for the premium version if you primarily use Spotify at home.

Now, browse through Spotify’s playlists. Maybe listen to some 90’s music or some 00’s from when you might have been a child. 

Try to listen to the lyrics of songs you grew up with. For example, as a child or teenager, you might not have noticed the song’s content, which could give it a whole new meaning. 

I am always amazed about some of my favorite songs’ deep meanings.

Even better, try to find completely new songs and maybe a new genre. 

To do that, I’d recommend you either search for the Spotify account of one of your favorite influencers and check out their Playlists or click on a song you already like and choose ‘Song Radio.‘ It will play more or less similar songs.

You may not immediately find music that you like, but I stumble over a few new songs once in a while. 

This gives me immense inspiration and results in researching more about the band and the lyrics, which inspires me even more.

2. Listen to Podcasts

Podcasts are among the most significant source of inspiration for me. 

At times, it still stuns me how much valuable content is put into Podcasts, and you can listen to it for absolutely free!

And since it is in audio format, you can listen to the content almost everywhere and at any time. 

You can listen to it while you work out, while you use public transportation, while you shower, while you drive your car, while you cook, etc.

Podcasts help you to get the most out of your time and provide unbelievable amounts of inspiration.

Seriously, if you are not listening to Podcasts already, start doing it! This was a massive game-changer for me. 

In fact, without Podcasts, I wouldn’t be writing this article right now, and I wouldn’t have this Blog.

Within about a month of listening to Podcasts, they inspired me to start my own business and strive for financial freedom. 

Now, a little more than half a year after starting this quest, I can’t imagine what I would do without it. My life would be so utterly BORING!

If this inspired you to listen to Podcasts, I have a list of my favorite ones for you:

3. Watch movies and series

Yes, movies and series can inspire you too. But in the age of Netflix, you are probably already consuming a ton of it.

Usually, I write about how you should spend less time watching movies and series. 

Just imagine what people could achieve in the time they mindlessly watch this stuff … it’s almost depressing to think about it.

However, since I get a lot of joy and inspiration from this media, I continue watching it, just a lot less than I used to. 

Currently, I spend one or two hours a day watching a series and rarely watch movies nowadays.

So, if you want to continue watching the series, I recommend you be more intentional about what exactly you watch. 

Choose something that brings you intense joy and/or inspires you in one way or another.

Maybe you like to watch Suits because it motivates you to study Law. 

Perhaps you like to watch The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina because it inspires you to be a more badass woman.

I am sure you can find something inspiring in whatever you are watching.

4. Use Social Media

Again, this is a topic where I usually recommend decreasing the time you spend with it; however, if used correctly, Social Media can be an immense source of inspiration for you.

To do this, you have to clean up the accounts you follow. Over time, you probably followed many accounts, whether on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or Snapchat. 

If this causes you to constantly update your feed because so many new posts come in, it isn’t inspirational but merely stressful.

So unfollow everyone who doesn’t inspire you. And if you don’t want to unfollow them, mute their account instead. 

The goal is to have a feed consisting of highly inspirational content of only a few select accounts.

That way, you can open the app, and within a few short minutes, you will feel deeply inspired.

Alternatively, I can recommend taking a step away from social media and using Pinterest instead. 

This is where I search for inspiration without feeling FOMO or comparisonitis. 

5. Plan it out

Another way to get inspired is to plan something you dream of doing. For example, do you want to travel to Newzealand? Plan your trip! Look up flights, hotels, and destinations you’d like to visit.

Do you want to become a successful entrepreneur? Visualize the steps it would take to build your dream business. And create a checklist.

You can also create vision boards with the things you dream about. Pinterest can be a useful tool for that.

Spend a short while getting lost in this planning and visualizing. I am sure it will ignite a new fire inside you, and you will feel motivated to fight for your goals again.

6. Use scripting

Scripting is a form of visualization, often used as a tool of the Law of Attraction.

You simply imagine what your dream life would be like. What would a perfect day look like? Where would you live? What kind of job would you have? What kind of people would surround you?

Ask yourself those questions and journal about them. Don’t just write about materialistic things you will have, instead write about the feelings you would feel.

Take your time with this exercise. If you fully immerse yourself in it, you’ll find some new inspiration.

7. Travel

Changing your surroundings can be a very effective way to find new inspiration.

You don’t even have to travel to some exotic destination to get yourself out of your hole of listlessness. For example, you might spend a weekend in the capital of your country. Or go camping at a lake near you.

And if you really, really can’t afford it, try moving your furniture around. The powerful effect this can have on the room’s atmosphere is stunning.

8. Take some time off

The thing that probably causes most of our lack of inspiration is too much work.

If you feel lost and uninspired, it is a good sign you need to change things up and take a break.

Once you give your mind the freedom to wander and experience new things, it will find inspiration on its own.

9. Read more

You don’t need to read books. You can read Blogs, magazines, or my personal guilty pleasure fanfictions.

Whatever it is, try to read a bit more. Reading can not only be an escape into fantastic worlds, but it can also spark new ideas within you and confront you with concepts you never even considered.

I love to broaden my horizon by reading non-fiction books, and they leave me inspired every time I pick them up. 

If you need some ideas on what to read next, check out my Reading List For Personal Growth. 

I regularly update it on all my favorite non-fiction books.

10. Spend time in nature

Nature holds infinite wonders for us. We humans originally belonged to nature; we were a part of it.

But the more we evolved, the more distant we grew from nature, and in the 21st century, not many people would be able to survive independently without civilization.

To spend time in nature means to spend time at the root of our existence. Unsurprisingly, this can prove to be a very inspiring experience.

11. Talk to strangers

I am always surprised at how much strangers can inspire me.

There are these times when you meet someone new, or you finally have a more in-depth conversation with someone you already knew, and the things they are talking about are simply fascinating.

It can be their career, hobbies, or view of the world and politics.

We are so used to the people around us that we often forget others may have a completely different approach to life, one we never even thought about.

So be excited about meeting new people. You never know; they could be the inspiration for your first business.

12. Keep track of your dreams

I am ending this list with a bang. You probably didn’t expect to come across this point on this list.

Even I only recently learned how inspiring dreams can be. And who would have guessed it? I learned about it from a Podcast.

In his Podcast, Jim Kwik talked about the power of remembering your dreams. 

Did you know that the Beatles’ “Yesterday,” Stephen King’s “Dreamcatcher,” Einstein’s theory of relativity, the periodic table, and the model of the atom all originated from dreams?

Isn’t that amazing?!

If you want to use this incredible source of inspiration, you should try and practice remembering your dreams because we all dream quite a lot, whether we notice it or not.

Well, what do you think? Can you already feel new inspiration rise in you? If so, comment ‘INSPIRE’ to show that you are stepping out of laziness.

Do you have any other ideas on how to get inspired? Share them with your fellow Felicity Seekers. After all, we have to support each other!

Until next time, Felicity Seeker!

15 Ways to Spend Your Time Wisely | How to Use Time Better

Blog, Success

Time is our most valuable asset. We only have a limited amount of it, and there is no easy way to get more of it. The way you spend your free time is also an essential indicator of the life you are going to live.

That’s why the most successful people consider very carefully how they spend their free time.

“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”

– Charles Darwin

Still, you may think, “Nah, why should I worry about how I spend my time? I still have so many years to live. I can worry about that later.”

Let’s take a little time to think this through. I am currently 20 and considering modern biotechnology and my healthy lifestyle I do expect to live at least until 100 years old.

That means I have 80 years left, which would be 29.220 days or 1.753.200‬ hours. That’s a lot, right?

Well, yes and no. While it is indeed a decent amount of time, I can’t really use all of it freely.

First of all, I need to sleep. Let’s say I sleep 8 hours a day on average. That would be a third of my day. So I only have 19.480 days left, in which I am awake.

Then, of course, I have to earn money. Let’s say that takes me 9 hours for 5 days a week. And of course, I also have to drive to and from work, go grocery shopping, clean the house, go to doctors appointments and so on.

If we count in all the necessities we have to accomplish during a typical week, pretty soon it becomes clear that probably another third of our time gets invested into those kinds of things.

Striving for Felicity 15 ways to spend your time wisely

The end result, therefore, is that you only have a third of the time you have in your life, to freely decide on how to use it.

If you are a Felicity Seeker like me, then you want to spend this time in the best possible way.

To help you with that, here come 15 ways to spend your time wisely. Enjoy!

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever recommend products that I have personally used and loved. Thank you for your support!

1. Travel

Have you ever heard of a person who regrets having traveled for fun too much in life? I haven’t. However, I am sure you are aware of many people who wish they had traveled more.

Traveling has been something that fascinated humans for hundreds of years now. There is just something about experiencing some of the infinite treasures this beautiful earth has in store for us.

The places you are going to see and the people you are going to meet will change the way you see and live life forever.

And the best part about traveling in the 21st century is that it not only has never been this cheap before it also has never before been this effortless.

Within 24 hours, you can basically reach any destination you want by sitting in a comfortable plane with a premium view and beverage service.

Next time you are ungrateful about the narrow airplane footwell, think about your ancestors who would have had to embark on a month-long journey on a not very luxurious or sanitary ship.

Traveling still takes quite a lot of time, yes. But the price-performance ratio is outstanding!

2. Exercise

“A man’s health can be judged by which he takes two at a time – pills or stairs.”

– Joan Welsh

I probably don’t need to tell you that you should exercise and eat healthily. In 2019 the great health and fitness wave has already hit us full force, causing fitness-studios to spring up like mushrooms all around the world.

However, just because many people exercise today, doesn’t mean that enough people do it. This becomes very apparent when we look at worldwide overweight statistics.

Exercise is not only essential to living a longer life but even more to live a better life. Fit people are often happier in life than overweight people.
And as a Felicity Seeker happiness is one of your main priorities in life.

3. Educate yourself

Education holds the keys to an extraordinary life. With every new information or skill you learn, a new door full of opportunities opens for you.

And I am not speaking just about the education schools and universities provide you with. No, more important than that is real life education. Start learning how money, investing, and taxes work. Inform yourself about mental health practices or how to study effectively.

There is an infinite amount of knowledge out there waiting for you to discover it. Every course you go through, informational YouTube video you watch or book you read has the potential to change your life! And altogether, they definitely will change your life!

What you learn today may seem absolutely insignificant to you, but you never know when it could help you.

Knowing how the royals keep those enormous hats on their heads may seem unnecessary knowledge today. But it might answer you the last “Who wants to be a millionaire?” question or give you a billion dollar worth business idea in twenty years.

So education is definitely worth your time!

If you are interested into broadening your horizon and educating yourself further, check out my Reading List.

As I am an avid self improver I read every day. This list includes the Non-Fiction books I have benefitted the most from. You should check the list every once in a while, since I am regularly updating it.

4. Spend time with loved ones

This one is immensely important. I dare say you could fulfill all of the others and still be unhappy in life if you don’t spend time with your loved ones.

We humans are social creatures. We crave connections to other humans.

Therefore you should always think twice if your job is worth neglecting your family and friends.

Money is easily made. Developing deep love and trust with others, on the other hand, takes months or years.

Set your priorities straight. Especially your parents and grandparents won’t be there forever. And your friends deserve someone who wants to invest his time in them.

5. Make memories

If you invest your time in exciting activities with your friends or family, you will double your outcome. Not only do you enjoy the time itself, but also the memories that are created in those moments.

Playing video games or binge-watching series might be something you enjoy doing as well. However, what are the chances you will look back when you are 80 and say: “Remember that one time in Call of Duty?”

6. Helping others

We, humans, have an altruistic streak. Whether you care for the people you are helping or not, helping others will give you a sense of satisfaction and pride.

Most rich people who seemingly have it all, heavily get into charity work, because among other reasons it gives them that boost of happiness needed for a life in Felicity.

Of course, you don’t need to spend money. Helping others can be done in multiple ways. Volunteer, donate clothes, tutor children, pick your sibling up from school or take care of some of your parents chores.

However little the actions you perform, it will definitely be worth your time and effort, because not only do you help others, you also make yourself happier.

7. Self-care

More important than helping others is helping yourself first. If you do not take care of yourself, you will not be able to help others to the biggest extent possible.

In general, you will not be able to enjoy life to the fullest. And in my opinion, that might be the biggest waste of time.

Another thing to consider is your loved ones. By not taking care of yourself, physically or mentally, you make them worry about you. Do you really want that?

8. Saying no

I love this one because it is incredibly quick and easy, but it saves you hours.

If people ask you to do something, which you absolutely do not enjoy doing and when there is no logical reason to say yes despite pleasing that person, decline.

It’s as easy as that. Say no. If that person is not among your loved ones, why should you give your most valuable asset to him without a good reason?

Saying no does not only save you time but also reduces your stress and anger.

9. Invest in time-saving tools

It is all about working smarter, not harder. Therefore, you should regularly spend a little time looking out for time-saving tools.

Sure, it might not only cost you time to find the tool but also money to purchase it, but if this makes life easier for you, it is worth it!

10. Plan your future

You should always have a vision of where you want to go. Otherwise, you might never be able to create that extraordinary life of your dreams.

Planning your future can take quite some time. But it is necessary for you to become clear about how you need to spend your time to reach your goals.

With no clear destination in mind, you might be running around in circles when you already could have reached your destinations weeks ago.

But be careful to not live in the future too much! You should spend the majority of your time in the Now, since that’s were life actually happens.

If you want to dive deeper into this topic, I recommend you to read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. You can also check out my Review of the book and the lessons I learned.

11. Build a side hustle

Spending one hour a day building your side hustle might enable you to quit your hated job in only a few years.

If you still need to be convinced on why you should build your own business, check out my 9 Reasons Why You Should Start Your Own Business.

12. Be creative

Creativity is something uniquely human. At least to our current knowledge. So why shouldn’t we embrace this gift to the fullest?

Being creative is like food to our soul. It reduces our stress, boosts our happiness, and inspires us.

Even if you think that you are not creative, I assure you there is at least one creative activity out there that you’d enjoy doing!

Just try a few different things. It will not waste your time.

13. Do what you love

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”

– Marthe Troly-Curtin

Of course, you should also spend time doing what you love even though it won’t benefit you in any other way. Joy, in itself, can be reason enough to take some time.

Still, you should be careful. Ask yourself, do I really enjoy watching TV every evening? Or am I just doing it because I can turn off my mind and want to be lazy?

There is a big difference between merely liking to do something because it is comfortable and genuinely enjoying an activity. The former only steals the time you could invest in the latter.

14. Follow the 80/20 rule

Now, we cannot always do what we love. We all have obligations we have to meet, be it cleaning the house or earning money.

Nevertheless, you can spend your time wisely doing these activities. One tool to do that is the 80/20 rule or the Pareto Principle named after the Italian engineer and economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923).

This principle states that 80% of the effects are the result of 20% of the causes.

While this principle was initially intended for the economy, we find that it works equally as well in almost every area of life.

Just think about it, you probably use 20% of the floor in your house 80% of the time. After all, you probably always walk the same paths.
Another example could be that out of all the people in your life, 20% of them cause 80% of your anger.

Of course, the relation is not always precisely 80 to 20, it can just as well be 70 to 30 or 85 to 15. What truly matters is the rule that a small part of your actions causes the most significant part of the results.

This can help you save your precious time. Whatever task is ahead of you, try to figure out what tasks produce the most significant results and what tasks waste the most time for the smallest achievements. Then try to spend more time on the former one.

15. Gratefulness

Lastly, something truly worth spending time on is gratefulness. You only need to spend a few minutes once in a while to mentally or physically list a few things in your day or in your life that you are grateful for.

Those few minutes have the power to light up your whole day. Gratefulness is one of the easiest and quickest sources of happiness.

So spend some time on gratitude. It is definitely worth it!

Those were the 15 Ways You Can Spend Your Time Wisely.

Don’t worry, the time you spent reading this fall under the category of education. So congratulations on having spent your time wisely!

What are some of the biggest time wasters you encounter daily? Is there anything you know you should stop spending so much time on?

Comment down below! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time,

Sophie

8 Simple Ways to Overcome Envy | How to Handle Envy

Blog, Personal Development

Envy is the most stupid of vices, for there is no single advantage to be gained from it.

-Honore de Balzac

I am genuinely excited about today’s topic since I am currently working very hard on beating that envy, which rises in me whenever I see other peoples successes. For me, this happens mostly around my studies and my business goals.

The frustrating thing about this is that I feel guilty about that envy. I want other people to have the success they deserve, and I am truly happy for them. But still, this annoying feeling of envy creeps over me.

But what even is envy?

According to the Oxford Dictionaries envy is the resentful longing for the possessions, qualities, or other desirable things of someone else.

I believe that this feeling of envy as increased dramatically in today’s age of social media. Within seconds we now have the opportunity to see all the fantastic achievements other people have.

Striving for Felicity 8 Simple Ways to Overcome Envy

I can’t necessarily speak for men, but I know that this competitiveness is especially bad in women. Many women rather hate each other instead of building each other up.

However, most of us know that envy only harms us. Felicity Seekers like us want to create a life full of happiness and success. To do that, we first have to master the right mindset and therefore get rid of harmful thoughts as much as possible.

To do just that, here are 8 Ways To Overcome Envy. Enjoy!

1. Realize and accept your envy

To solve a problem, we first must become aware of it and take it as something that needs to be addressed.

So analyze yourself. Do you feel envious from time to time? If so, in what situation does that feeling occur?

Does it always happen when you scroll through social media? Does it happen when you get the grades for your exams? Or does it happen whenever you hear about a brilliant and unique business model?

Find what triggers your envy and then journal about it. I know I say this a lot but I am a huge journaling fan, and I benefitted immensely from it.

Writing your thoughts and emotions down on paper has something clarifying. It is like a homemade therapy session.

Once you know what causes your envy and what repercussions it has on you, it will be easier to tackle the problem.

2. Realize that the success of others helps you

Why should we feel envious of something that in the end, benefits us?

Other people’s success paved the way for us. It shows us what is possible and the steps we need to take to achieve this success ourselves.

Are you envious of the life a successful online entrepreneur is living? Try to find out as much as you can about him. Chances are, if you do step by step what he did while avoiding the mistakes he made, you can have equal success in a fracture of the time it took him.

Same goes for school or university. Analyze the overachievers of your class. What are they doing differently than you? Maybe ask them for some tips on how to study.

Most successful people had to fail their way to success. In doing that, they made the whole process easier for the people coming after them.

So whenever you feel envious, ask yourself: How could his/her success benefit me?

3. Cultivate an abundant mindset

A big part of feeling envious is the belief that the success of others in some way took something from you.

We feel like because there is one successful Motivation YouTuber that there can’t be another one. Therefore he robbed us of the opportunity to become a successful YouTuber ourselves.

This stems from the limiting belief of scarcity. We feel like there is a limit to the number of successful YouTubers out there. When in reality, we live in an abundant world!

Opportunities are endless. Money is infinite. Success is limitless. And the value you can provide to the world is unlimited.

Once you truly believe that abundance is all around you, there will be no need for envy anymore.

4. Compliment others

You might think that you are only able to compliment others after you got over your envy. And sure, in the beginning, you have to force yourself to be happy for others.

However, complimenting others and celebrating their successes does actually diminish your envy little by little. Seriously, try it. I myself was surprised at its immediate effects.

5. Start working!

If you use it the right way, envy can also be a good thing. It can motivate you to work harder.

If you are envious of others, work hard to get what they have. As I mentioned before, the success of other already shows you the way. Now you just have to decide to follow it.

And truth be told, all the time you spend obsessing over what others have, you could spend working on getting what you want.

6. Avoid envious people

I know, I’ve said it many times before, but you need to hear this quote again.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

– Jim Rohn

Therefore, how are you supposed to abandon your envy if all of your friends always talk with envy about other peoples successes?

Instead, spent time with people who support others and encourage them to achieve great things. If we work together, we can accomplish amazing things.

7. Stop comparing yourself to others

This one is rather obvious, but because it is so important, it deserves a place on this list.

The less you compare yourself with others, the less you will feel envious of their success.

Once you accept that every person is unique and therefore faces unique situations in life, you won’t want to have exactly what they have. Instead, you will want to strive for your version of what they have.

As soon as you reach that point, envy will give way to inspiration and motivation.

8. Be grateful for what you have

“Envy is the art of counting the other fellow’s blessings instead of your own.”

– Harold Coffin

Lastly, you should turn your focus away from other peoples lives and onto your own life.

No matter how horrible your life may seem, there is always something to be grateful for!

Once you find these things, you will feel happy and at ease. Why feel envious of other people when you already have so much to be grateful for?

Sure, you can strive for more. But do it out of a positive place and not because you feel like your life lacks something.

These are my 8 Ways To Overcome Envy. I hope that they will help you.

Do you have any other tips? As I am still working on overcoming envy myself, I’d appreciate additional ideas.

Until next time,

Sophie