When was the last time you felt awake, truly awake, in your life? What was happening? What was it about the experience that revived you, helped you to notice your awake-ness? Did the experience last?

As we talked about last week, I believe success is something very personal for each of us. At times, we might get wrapped up in ideas about success that come from a perspective that’s prolific around us in society or culture, work environments, and maybe even in our friend groups or families. We receive messages about what it means to be “successful” each and every day.

Do you notice the messages you hear? Do you resonate with any part of them, or buy into them wholeheartedly? Do you ever question if the messages you notice and hear are legitimate or not?

I shared about my experience recently with quite a number of business coaches reaching out to me and how each conversation rather quickly turned toward them desiring to know my company’s revenue goals. And you can probably tell from the now two-week mention of these conversations that they’ve hit a nerve with me. Really, it’s because money isn’t my end goal because the truth is that money comes and goes. And, it goes and it comes. It’s a tool and if my ultimate measurement of success in life was dependent on money, how would I be doing if it wasn’t going so well? How would I be doing if it was going very well? The same is true for status, the way we think others perceive us, or the title(s) we carry, or the degrees or certifications on our resumes. It could just as easily be something else like being needed or making ourselves indispensable. What happens when we’re not? What happens when someone else has more credentials or moves more projects forward than we do? How does any of this contribute to you and me living awake in our lives?

So I ask again … When was the last time you felt fully awake in your life? What was it actually tied to? Can you define it?

The past two weeks, I spent a ton of time investing in relationships, I listened a lot, I delivered my new book to some folks personally and was giddy as I put others in the mail, I shared meals, I shared my heart, I watched movies, I had deep conversations, I got out into the beauty of the outdoors, I helped one client complete a strategic process plan to implement their newly clarified vision, mission, and purpose (SO stinkin’ fun!!!), I collaborated on a spiritual retreat I’m co-creating, I rested, I drove and noticed my surroundings, I wrote lists of things that are on my mind lately, I ate good food, I drank allll of the coffee (and the water!), I ran errands, I noticed where I’m feeling stressed, I completed year-end work for a b-to-b client, I prayed and read life-changing scriptures, I had a number of conversations about new steps I’m taking and established partnerships in those directions, I remembered what life was a year ago and felt incredibly thankful for the season I’m in now and how I’ve grown forward, and I saw a place in my life where my heart feels lighter and softer. And you know what? I feel awake in my life right now.

I share all of this because each piece of the above is filled with meaning for me about how I’m growing and being brave and trying and showing up and being myself and enjoying the variety that is my life right now. I’m finding more and more how committed I am to this process I’m in and to the One who is graciously leading me in it and through it all. And I’m not doing it to prove myself to anyone else anymore (Whoa.). I’m doing it because I really do love it. It’s so beautiful because there’s a lot of layers in it for me about overcoming and vulnerability and risk. There are so many parts of life that feel uncomfortable right now but I am smiling at them. I’m living my life, building dreams, and helping others. These are the things of legacy, the things that last. It is an amazing and ordinary, challenging and uplifting, unclear and clarifying time. And I love it. I’m so, so, so awake. And I feel successful and revived even in moments where the path forward is hazy. I know it’s because I’m succeeding at things that last, things that matter to me. And that’s made all the difference.

What about you?