Default to Yes! (Your Extraordinary Self): For Healthy Mind, Body & Spirit

Embracing Your Uniqueness: Your Personal Mission Statement

• Juli Reynolds • Episode 9

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Psychology research has shown that individuals who embrace their unique identity tend to have better mental health and well-being. AND, the world needs you to bring all that makes you uniquely you - it is what you were created for! 

After you listen to this episode, lean into writing or clarifying your  personal mission statement. 

Your personal mission statement should reflect your values, goals, and aspirations. This can help you clarify your identity and purpose. Your mission statement should be specific, actionable, and reflective of your authentic self.

By taking these steps, you can discover and embrace your uniqueness. Remember that being true to oneself can bring about a sense of satisfaction and confidence that you are relying on as you Default to Y.E.S.!

If you would like a guide, I have one for you!
Here it is! 7 Steps to Walking More Freely in the Direction of Your Dreams,

I can't wait to see what your creating! Get on the DTY list - and get all of this and more, sent right to your inbox! 

I would love to hear from you! I would love to hear what is coming up for you!

Support the show

Do BOTH of us a favor ...CLICK HERE and join me on the journey to see what we are capable of when we Default to Extraordinary! Get every episode plus bonus content sent right to your inbox!

Let me know what it looks like when you default to YES! or just leave me a VOICE MESSAGE.

Schedule your NO REGRETS Discovery Call

You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook @reimaginewellness

Want daily inspiration, a space to journal, and set goals - try GROWTH DAY. It is part of my daily routine, maybe it will be perfect for you too!

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Hello and welcome back. This week we're going to explore

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the importance

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of being

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true to

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yourself and how to discover your unique identity.

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Many of

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us struggle with

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the pressure to blend in or

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to conform to societal standards

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and others' expectations, and sometimes

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we don't really even know what those are. Sometimes it's

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just a thought in our head that may

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not even be true of what's expected of us although this could make it

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challenging

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to embrace our uniqueness and show up in the world in the way we really want to, in a way that feels

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authentic. However, research

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has shown that people

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who embrace their uniqueness tend to have better mental

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health, more fulfilling relationships,

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and a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life. I'm excited to dive into this topic with

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you

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as you show up to default to

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yes, your extraordinary

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self whatever

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that might look like for

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you,

My goal is to get to the gym every other day and work out for a half hour at least and so my extraordinary self gets up in the morning and goes to the gym every other day. I don't always feel the best about it, but I feel great that I have accomplished it. That's what it looks like when I default to, yes.

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All right. I'd love

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to hear from you guys. Thanks Jenny for sharing

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what it looks

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like

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for you to

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default to. Yes. Okay. Back to our topic.

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I have a lot of experience with this

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and I'm sure

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that as far as going back to like what

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makes you unique, It's a lifelong journey, right? I can

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remember back in grade school, junior high, high school, all through college,

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there were defining moments as I had different experiences and different mentors, voices speaking into my life that shaped really shaped my

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journey. when we

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started our first church in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

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we were committed to not having a one

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size fits all

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kind of

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experience And we wanted to see all

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of

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the gifts and all of

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the passions represented in that, in that

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community. And, I really leaned into

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working with people to

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discover their passion

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and their personal

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preferences, their gifts, the things that they brought uniquely

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And along with the community contribution that you just make as a community member.

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I wanted to see people really shine and really

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lean into

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what they were created for, and

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what

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I found was that

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that became my passion is helping. People or empowering

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people to get ahold of their

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vision and

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their voice

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and show

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up in the world

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in the way

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they were uniquely created to do, in

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the way that only they can.

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And that is what lights me

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up.

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It's what this podcast is about

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too.

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So, along the way, I ran into this, story that I think

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illustrates this, for us, how we can struggle with

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the way our culture is designed.

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And the way a lot of our environments work

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environments school environments

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are

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created

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that kind of muddy the waters on this

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on our search for

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uniqueness and showing up as our authentic

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self.

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So the

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story's called The

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Animal School,

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and you may have heard of it.

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It's a

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well-known short story written

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by George

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Reve. He's

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an American educator, writer, former

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principal

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of a public school in Cincinnati,

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Ohio. This story was first

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published in 1940s.

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It's been used

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as an educational tool to teach children as well as

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adults

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to embrace

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the importance of recognizing

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in individual differences. So, I can't read the whole thing to you because of

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copyright of course, but, so I'm gonna try to paraphrase

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or summarize it for you. So the story goes that animals, all the

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animals got

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together. They decided to do something really

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special, solve the world's problems,

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make the world a better

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place. Now, I'm sure, as you

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can imagine, each animal had a little different idea, a different perspective on what

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that would look like. They

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brought different skills, different gifts different designs to the

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work.

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So. As they went forward to make it

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eat a little easier to go on the journey together, they adopted a curriculum

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all the animals took the same courses. They followed the same rules, schedules, formulas, and

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frameworks.

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They were.

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Evaluated on the same criteria and they compared their progress

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to one another in every subject. They

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scrolled on Facebook and Instagram to see how other people were getting along and compared their journeys and their progress and the

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pace in which they were progressing, weighed their successes against each other. Those who excelled in flying were celebrated,

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and those who fell behind would

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need to work harder, right? Even if it meant less swimming because they already excelled at

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swimming. So what really

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mattered was flying.

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Now the animals. After a while, as

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you can imagine, experienced

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some

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problems. They experienced

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physical, injuries, emotional

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injuries, and

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just some basic confusion, and they weren't making the impact that they wanted, so the animals consulted the wise old owl decided

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to

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listen and created a new curriculum. They still

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had

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classes in running, climbing, swimming, and flying, but they also created classes in which

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each animal

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could

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excel in their own unique way. The duck

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took classes in swimming and excelled. The rabbit running excelled. The eagle got

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to excel at

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flying, and the animals learn to

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embrace their differences and

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work together to create a better world to live. They probably also stopped

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scrolling on Facebook and Instagram, and they stopped

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comparing themselves to one another

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started really

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being able to appreciate each other for

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who they were

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and

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once they did get back on Facebook and Instagram, they

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were truly able

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to celebrate

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the

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successes of

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others without

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it being a reflection on them.

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All right, so that's

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Animal School

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by George Reas with a little bit of additions

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me,

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but Google it, it's a good story.

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And it might be, it's, it's definitely worth taking a read. Okay. So I'm curious, what

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does that look like

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you today to show up uniquely you?

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I'm curious also, what does this bring up for you? there is

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scientific evidence to support

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the benefits

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of discovering and embracing your unique identity. Psychology

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research,

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has shown us that individuals who embrace their unique identity tend to

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have better mental health and

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overall well.

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One study published in the

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Journal of Personality

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and Social Psychology found that people who had a greater

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sense of self distinctiveness, that's the belief that

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they possessed unique traits and characteristics, reported higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction. Another study published in the Journal of

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Positive Psychology found that individuals who embrace

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their authentic self, their true and genuine self reported greater positive emotions, vitality, and life satisfaction.

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These studies show

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us that.

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When we engage in self-reflection

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activities such as identifying strengths and passions, or writing a personal

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mission statement, Those individuals tend to have a clear sense of their unique identity.

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So

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how do we go about

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discovering or getting clarity on that

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uniqueness?

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Here are three things that

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you can

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try

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get started, and you can work on this this week to

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help you discover your uniqueness.

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First, take

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some time

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to reflect

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on your strengths

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and passions. What activities or skills do you enjoy doing?

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What makes you feel

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fulfilled?

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What are those things

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you can talk

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through the night on and just not

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even notice the time?

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What are the things that

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you

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can work on and lose

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track of time that give you more energy than they take?

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Identifying

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your strengths and passions can help you understand what makes you unique.

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The

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second thing

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is look

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at your past

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experiences,

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our past experiences,

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shape who we are

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today.

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Take some time to reflect

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on your past experiences. Some of them you'll wanna celebrate

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and some are more difficult

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to think back on.

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how have

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they influenced you?

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What have you learned

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from these experiences,

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how they've shaped your values

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and your

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belief? All right. Third, and this is

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an

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important one.

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Embrace your imperfections. If you identify as a perfectionist,

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it may be time to put that down. No one is perfect and

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that's okay. In

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fact, I think

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it's

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better than okay.

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Embrace your imperfections

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and understand that they are part of what

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makes you unique. What you think of as your flaws and weaknesses

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can be, first

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of all, transformed into

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strengths when you learn to embrace

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them,

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but those are the things that can make your uniqueness shine. Now I

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wanna share an exercise that can help you discover your unique identity and give you a lot

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of clarity. this is something that you can be

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working on until we come back together

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again next week.

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All right, so Write a personal mission statement. This is a statement that reflects your values, goals, and aspirations. This can help you

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clarify your identity and

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purpose.

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Your mission statement should be specific,

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actionable, and reflect your authentic self. So don't Google it. Don't look around

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on Facebook and see how other people may have worded their mission statement. This is yours, so just

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take, it can be as

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simple as taking out

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a piece of paper. If you journal,

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great place to start writing. Even on your phone, in your note

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pages,

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however

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you like to write, start writing. Just let it free flow. Whatever

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comes to your mind, the

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words will come. Ask yourself some questions now, if you get stuck

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on this, I have created a guide that is yours for

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free. it's

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called The

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Seven Steps to

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Walking More Freely in the Direction of Your Dreams,

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and it can be found on

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reimagine Wellness dot. Slash yes,

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You could actually get a

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reimagine wellness.org for a lot of resources, including if you just want to reach out and schedule a coaching session with me. go there, get it set up, and

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we'll get some clarity around this. I'd love to support

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you

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by taking these steps. You

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can

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discover and embrace your uniqueness.

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Remember that being

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true to yourself can bring

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sense of satisfaction and confidence that you

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are looking

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for.

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All right, so

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that's today's episode.

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If you enjoyed this or you know someone else who

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would be who, it

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would be fun to do this exercise

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with, subscribe

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and share this episode. Get your friends in on the journey, celebrate together, struggle it

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out together.

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They will help you get some clarity as well. I'd love to hear from you too. So go to reimagine wellness.org/yes for any additional resources and get on the email list so I

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can send you all of this and more straight to

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your

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inbox. Let me know what you

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think. I'd

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love to hear what you're creating,

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what's coming up for you

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as

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you default to yes, your extraordinary.