Before Deanna Niceski introduced me to her dream and concept of My Inspiration Never Dies, I was lost in the work-life debate trying to keep a business going with a growing family in Australia and my own personal sanity.
I would never use a journal and wasn’t focused on my own well-being as there was too much to do, it all was on my shoulders and I couldn’t let anyone down so it was a little bit British and chin up and carry on.
Throughout my life journey, I have been fortunate to travel around the world however as you will read in my notes this doesn’t mean I have experienced the world, the culture and the real environment of each continent. I have just been there.
You will have a different experience with your My Mind Voyage journey than me but I guarantee it will touch some raw nerves and make you look back with some regret however reassure you that you have time and the ability to re-travel, re-look and recreate some of those jigsaw pieces that you missed the first time.
I struggled with the journal initially even though I am the co-author and worked tirelessly alongside Deanna in its detail, structure and content. Maybe I was too close to the forest to see the trees however in time, I realised it was due to the lack of focus that I couldn’t get going. It wasn’t the journal that wasn’t working it was my inability to stop and take it seriously or in fact take myself seriously. I didn’t need sympathy from others, I wouldn’t accept sympathy as I always told everyone that everything was ok.
Now, I want to be transparent that I sincerely appreciate the hard work of all those involved in the brand “RUOK” but I do have a personal issue now with the phrase “it’s ok not to be ok”. It isn’t ok, NOT to be ok, at least for too long. It is the goal to be ok, to be settled, engaged and content and My Mind Voyage introduced me to the solution of setting that goal, engaging myself in the plan and building the blocks to be more than just ok.
There are twenty-four chapters to the first edition journal and it begins with My Story in the You phase, a few introductory pages of questions that I found frustrating to answer. Why? Because I didn’t know some of the answers. What is the meaning of my name? What do I know about the place I was born? I initially put the journal back down as my need to follow the pages from the beginning to the end meant that didn’t have the time or mental capacity to get to this information.
What I did next, I recommend to everyone. I realised I didn’t have time because of work and life getting in the way and not allowing me the space to focus on me and my thoughts so I jumped forward and completed the task in the Life-work Balance chapter. I took a week to log down what I did in everyday life every hour and was astounded in seeing it on paper. This was a moment of change personally and I had to put the brakes on a voyage that was not heading where I nor my wife and family had planned.
My mind voyage was underway and I recommend anyone who is a little lost and doesn’t have the balanced life that they want should pick up the journal, jump to chapter nine and see the very obvious gaps that are so easily fixed.
I’ll continue to explore my approach to the journal and the experiences in other posts but for now, get off your backside and make a moment of time to at least start your own voyage one step at a time.