Intuition Told Me to Quit My Perfect Life + How to Find Intuition

This crazy thing happens where we either decide to change our lives because things are so bad, or because we finally got what we wanted and realized it was all wrong.

Please enjoy this photo from our family’s first quineanara. It felt fitting for today’s post.

*Paid subscribers, can find an audio link available at the bottom of this post.

Ten years ago I found myself drawn to the documentary The Minimalists not necessarily because I was just eating up what these two dudes had to say about decluttering, but because one of them had a story that felt very similar to mine. He had finally climbed the top of the corporate ladder, was making six figures a year, had an awesome car, cool apartment. The works. Everything you would think a typical white man might want to achieve before he hits thirty, right? Only he realized he wasn’t fulfilled in his life at all.

As a late twenty something at the time, I could totally relate. Yes, I had the adorable kids, my figure bounced back after babies, we bought our dream home, and I was able to somehow stay at home with the kids while also running the photography business of my dreams. All the things women are told to want wrapped up in a pretty, little bow. Except, I wasn’t feeling fulfilled.

Up until that point in my life, I hadn’t really heard of anyone else who was doing the opposite in life. You know, going backwards, and un-doing all the things they had done. No one in my day to day life was walking away from their high profile, high paying job or selling their big, beautiful home for something cheaper and more outdated. It just wasn’t happening.

It still doesn’t really happen.

Perhaps this means that everyone in my life actually managed to do and achieve everything they wanted without fault. Good for them. Truly. How in the world did they pull that off?

I on the other hand had excelled at accomplishing everything I was told would bring life fulfillment and yet, I felt emptier than ever.

This lead me to the realization that I didn’t actually know what I wanted.

Maybe I didn’t know what I wanted because I didn’t really know myself.

I probably didn’t really know myself because I had always done what everyone else told me to.

If I wanted to know what I actually wanted, I would have to find out who I really was.

And…I guess if I need to know who I really am, I need to start getting rid of everything I’m not.

Naturally, this lead to me decluttering my closet and getting rid of all the clothes I didn’t really like.

What started in that moment, smack dab in the middle of that walk in closet was a revolution. A revelation. I was beginning a journey I had no clue I was beginning, but I was hell bent on continuing. In that moment I knew I wanted to re-build my life and design it in a way that felt right for me. Of course, in order to re-build my life I first had to destroy what I’d built.

C’mon, take my hand, I'll tell you how I did it!