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You are here: Home / Life / Ideal vs Real: What Do You Really Want in Life?

Ideal vs Real: What Do You Really Want in Life?

August 12, 2023 | Renée Fishman

There’s something exciting about stepping outside of the bounds of ’“normal” expectations of what is “appropriate” to desire. But then on the other hand, it’s one thing to idealize a desire of what it would be like to do something different; but then it’s quite a different thing to actually do it and experience it and have it be different and then have to internalize that, and reconcile, and decide if that’s really what you wanted, and if the desire, once fulfilled, is really worth it on some level.

Chris Brennan, on The Astrology Podcast

As Venus enters into the heart of the Sun tomorrow, we are reaching the heart of the matter in this Venus retrograde cycle. The core inquiry is

What do you really want in life?

When it comes to identifying what you truly want out of life, it’s easy to get swayed by what you see around you or what has influenced you in the past.

On social media, everyone is marketing their version of an ideal life.

You have conceptions you were fed as a child about what is ideal.

When you see people sharing snippets of their lives online, they are rarely sharing the whole story. They paint a picture of an idealized version of a life, without regard to the mundane aspects of living, like when and how they do laundry, or buy groceries, or eat their meals.

They show one snippet of a desired outcome, but not the process of how they get there, or the experience of living their life.

Even the lives that look most glamorous on the surface often have a lot of mundane tasks in the process.

What’s the Experience You Want to Have?

Rather than focusing on the outcome, focus on the experience you want to have. For example, perhaps you get an idea that you want to travel and have adventures, and work from anywhere.

In theory, that may sound like an ideal life.

But consider the experience of it beyond the adventure of seeing and experiencing living in different places.

Living life out of a suitcase.
Constantly adapting to a new environment.
In each new location, seeking out places conducive to working, and getting the lay of the land.
No anchoring in community.
Being far away from family and friends.

If you like consistency in your routine and being in control of your own work environment, this might not be the best path for you. Perhaps what you really want is more time in your schedule to travel, without the lifestyle sacrifices that remote work entails.

It’s important to consider for yourself what is ideal — and what is realistic for you, based on your temperament and values.

Instead of the outcome — a big concept like “freedom” or “more money” — consider the experience you want to have in your daily life.

Before you go down a path of pursuing a certain dream, it might be useful to talk to someone you perceive as living that dream, and asking them about their day-to-day.

This will help you envision something that is more aligned for you — and more pleasurable to attain.

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Filed Under: Life Tagged With: alignment, decisions, idealism, life, personal development, planning, purpose, reality, values, vision

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