When I feel lost, overwhelmed, or disconnected from myself, I return to a small set of personal guidelines. They aren’t rules or commandments. They’re reminders. Ways of orienting back to what matters, to what feels true, to what gives me a little more agency and freedom in my own life.

These are the ideas I come back to when I need steadiness. Take what supports you. Leave the rest behind.

Once I liberated myself from the constraints of a predetermined pursuit, I freed up energy and brain space for interests I otherwise wouldn’t have considered. Since I wasn’t busy chasing one single-minded goal, I was able to listen to my intuition and notice what actually resonated with me.