What does it mean to follow your heart? How do I know what are my dreams?

 I always wondered

How would I know for sure what is my dream and what am I supposed to do in life?

Follow your curiosities

was the answer I received.

And I did.

I fought so many times and years against my curiosities and dreams, I made many efforts to push them aside, all the ideas of small things I liked and wanted to do. For what purpose was I procrastinating living?

I was so determined to achieve a goal, save money, and buy land, that I completely neglected also the things that would not have cost me anything to do, like running.

I love running. 3-5 km runs with good energetic music in my ears and a Nike run app to track my progress.

I neglected it as I neglected reading books and drawing and singing.

I became a very flat person, grey and empty of energy.

One decision had turned my life completely.

I left all behind and started all from scratch like a newborn, with a complete reset of my goals, intentions, destinations, beliefs, habits, and diet.

I got the chance to build my life as I wanted to see it.

3 Exercises to repeat every day that helped me rediscover myself :

Write 5 things you love

Write 5 things you did today that made you happy

Write 10 of your strengths, things that you are proud of in yourself

The last one was the most difficult for me to do, as I was used to looking at the bad things, never looking at the good ones as I thought it could make me too proud.

But after two weeks when I reread the lists, I saw my personality looking at me, the true one.

Each day felt like a discovery, when I suddenly remembered that I absolutely loved climbing steep mountains, and somehow forgot about it in the past three years.

I rediscovered my passion for writing, singing, photography, and my love for vegetables I didn’t eat because my partner did not eat them - onions, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach, and parsley, I was so excited to change my diet and finally eat all those things I loved.

Each day I wrote more and was slowly integrating into my life one thing at a time out of these lists.

I felt curious about trying new things I always wanted but was too scared.

I rebuilt my activity list and included new trials, new courses, new habits.

Whatever felt good I kept doing.

One day I felt overwhelmed by the amount of things I wanted to do, so I created a calendar plan, where I included all my activities by the hour.

Then, some of the activities dropped out of my schedule, as I saw I didn’t want to waste my time on them, but rather do something I am much more passionate and curious about.

Thus filtering the things I loved the most.

Slowly these small things become the fuel for your soul, they are what makes you alive.

Following those small things you love and investing more time and effort in them nourishes them and they grow into your dreams and passions.

For me, this is what “follow your heart” means.