As the world begins to open up little by little and more of us feel safe venturing out, I spent a beautiful and sunny week in Mexico. A week of sunrise yoga on the beach, mango and papaya for breakfast, and lots of vitamin D with a great book is just what my soul needed.

I remember a time in my life when I used to count down the days until my vacation began and still recall the countdown of dread to reintegrate back into my work routine.

But as I’ve given myself more and more permission to create a life I love and a schedule by my own design, I notice how much that pressure is a distant memory at this point.

This is often a topic clients bring to coaching conversations.

If you’ve successfully transitioned into entrepreneurship, first of all, congratulations! Celebrating that transition with clients never gets old for me.

But if you’ve started to notice the time freedom that initially inspired you to become an entrepreneur seems to be playing peek-a-book with you, this post is for you.

One of the places I look with clients who experience a gap between what they wanted initially versus what they created is why they wanted it.

Now I imagine most of you have watched Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk on Start With Why and you already *know* this at this point, but hold tight for a minute…

I never wanted to become a coach to simply make more money, live and work out of a suitcase whenever I wanted to, and become my own boss.

I certainly *wanted* those pieces, but I wanted so much more for my life.

I wanted to enjoy what I was doing in my business each moment I was doing it.

I wanted to make a much greater impact leveraging the FULL expression of my gifts, not just some of them.

I wanted to be surrounded by individuals who inspired me, who were up to big things in their life, and who were impassioned rather than resigned about their lives.

I wanted so much more flexibility with my schedule.

When we make choices from what we want vs why we want it, we will eventually create a sense of misalignment or breakdown in our lives and results.

At the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, when I made choices based on what I wanted, this resulted in:

A consistent stream of well-being breakdowns, sinus infections, and neck spasms.

A lack of confidence in my abilities and even more imposter syndrome.

A feeling of emotional disconnectedness in my relationships and deprioritizing the people who mattered most to me in life.

I certainly learned the hard way what feeling out of alignment looked like. One of those first years in entrepreneurship, I had 6 sinus infections, 4 emergency visits to my doctor, and was on antibiotics what felt like ALL year.

I was on a call with a client just this week who acknowledged me for being so integrated. This is a reflection I’ve received a lot over the years… being embodied, having a balance of masculine and feminine energy, having a grounded presence.

I realize that it is because of this conversation.

I am more committed to why I want what I want rather than simply wanting it. My business and life decisions reflect those values.

I want this for you.

This is the path to work life balance, the path to contentment, the path to deeply loving and intimate relationships, and the path to a wellspring of joy and happiness that I notice is deeply lacking for so many of you.

It is also the path to creating so much more of what you want. Choosing in alignment with your personal why frees you up to have so much more of what you want too!

If you’re feeling disconnected from yourself, your loved ones or your business, take some time for yourself this weekend to get reconnected with why you want what you want.

One of my favorite practices to offer clients is to take yourself out on date. Spend some quality time with yourself doing the things you love, treating yourself the way you want to be treated by others, and allowing yourself space and stillness to reconnect with what matters most to you. I have found this practice to be one of the greatest gifts you can gift yourself!

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Catherine is a Master Certified Coach and bestselling author of Belonging: Overcome Your Inner Critic and Reclaim Your Joy.