On an average day, I’m oversleeping because I stayed up too late the night before binging on Cowboy Bebop while getting lost in the marshmallowy goodness of Phish Food ice cream.
On an ideal day, I’ve gone to bed at a decent time after three rounds of breathwork and a chapter from Terence McKenna’s Food of the Gods. Then I wake up early to greet the birds as I do a little sun salutation outside in the morning light.
The Taoist in me knows both days have their place in a life well-lived, but more of the latter gets me closer to the future-self I dream of being.
It’s easy to get lost in the familiarity of routine. With a little intentionality, your average day can become a daily ritual to manifest the life you long for.
This is your chance to dream a little. Make a plan. If you don’t intentionally design your life, status quo fills in the blanks for you. Here’s how to design your days to make your future self proud. Write it down as you go through this process—it will make you get specific, help you remember and make you accountable to yourself.
How would you like to feel? Confident, excited, grateful? Inspired, joyful, rejuvenated? Do you want more peace or more adventure? Try to frame it in terms of what you want instead of what you don’t.
What would you like to experience? Connection, independence, well-being, play, purpose? What are you doing? Where are you doing it? Who is with you?
Create templates for different kinds of days. While eating figs by the river and having orgies sounds delightful, the reality is most of us still need to work. Make sure your design includes ways to fulfill your fantasies but still pay the bills.
Use your senses to unlock creativity. Visualization isn’t for everybody, and if you find it hard to imagine your ideal day, you may need to go beyond your sense of sight. Smell cinnamon, taste a strawberry, listen to your favorite song, or touch some garden dirt to feel your way into what you want.
Notice what emotions come up for you. Are you excited, trepidatious, or a bit of both? Do you believe you deserve the life you want? Are you a bit confused? It’s all just information about your starting point. Being honest about where you are is solid ground for next steps.
Maybe you’re afraid to dream because, what if they never come true? If you don’t organize around your dreams, they’re not likely to happen. If you make a plan, though, at least you have a shot, and you’ll get a helluva lot closer than if you never tried.
Experiment. You’re probably not going to figure out your ideal day in one shot. Let yourself play, change and grow.
Sara Russell is a relationship coach. Connect with her on her website and on Instagram. She is also the host of the Trends w/ Benefits podcast :microdose episodes. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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