Do you ever have periods in your life where you just don’t feel like yourself? Periods where you feel empty and vacant, dispirited and maybe discouraged. Pay close attention to those feelings you have. They are your inner compass trying to tell you what needs to change, what you need to let go of, and how to evolve.

Do not shame yourself for these feelings. It is often not your fault, but the environment that has molded you into a version of you that you no longer recognize. It is also normal to feel disconnected to an old version of yourself that you no longer resonate with. You are a constant evolving creature. A beautiful work in progress and a masterpiece at the same time.

Below are five essential steps to take and consider as you follow along on the journey of becoming the very best version of you. These steps will help you come back to yourself and let whatever dreams that may be lying dormant in your heart to blossom and flourish.

Change your environment

Your environment impacts you in such powerful ways and even subconscious ways that we may not even realize. Have you ever been in a work environment that just drains your soul? Or even a home environment that just never feels restful? If you’re constantly being exposed to an environment that does not allow your soul to rest, you will inevitably get burned out from living in a constant survival state.

Your environment is like an extension of your inner world. What is going on around you will inevitably affect your inner well being and state of mind.

Changing your environment does not have to be as drastic as leaving a relationship or a job though. Sometimes changing your environment can be as simple as rearranging your furniture or replacing your furniture or items in your house for things that more align with who you are today. It could be clearing out things and creating more empty space. When things get too cluttered around you, your mind will as well.

Changing your environment could also mean temporarily allowing yourself the space to escape the current reality you are in, especially if you are unable to leave whatever environment you are in permanently yet.

Take a walk outside, especially in nature. Go to a quiet cafe or an old bookstore. Go to your favorite park or beach and just allow yourself to slow down and breathe.

Even a small shift in your environment can alter your mental state. You will find the clarity for what needs to shift in your world to make an even greater impact on your life and your happiness.

If you can book a trip, even if it’s just for an extended weekend. Often these types of getaways can offer such mental clarity that when you return you know exactly what needs to shift in your current reality and what steps you need to take.

Give yourself the grace to make mistakes

No one is perfect, so do not hold yourself to an impossible standard of perfectionism with no room for mistakes. You will learn from the chances you took, not the ones you didn’t. The space you allow yourself to learn and grow through life will allow you the space to elevate.

Create a safe space to plan, prepare, and plant new dreams. Give yourself the grace to experiment. You are a living expression which is perfection. Allow yourself the space and room to grow into the new version of you that’s living inside of you. Allow your creative energy room to breathe.

Giving yourself this space will allow and give room to what is waiting to unfold. You will not know the true expansion of your dreams without allowing room to make mistakes along the way. Sometimes we do not fully discover what it is that we want or don’t want in life until we try new things for a while and see how they work out.

The mistakes you make, and the grace you give to them can teach you so much. It’s ok to not be perfect. It’s ok to create something that you find imperfect. You and your art are a progress in the making and a masterpiece at the same time.

Clip your wings, so a new set of wings can grow

There is a new way to be in each new season of life. Know that your old ways may not serve you in this new space. There are new heights to see and new views to enjoy. There is a new way to simply be. Release your old self so that you can come into this new season.

Each season in your life requires you to reexamine what you need to shed in order to grow and elevate into the version of you that you desire. In each new season as you evolve, you will need to clip your wings so that a new set of wings can grow.

What does this mean? It means releasing everything that no longer aligns with you. It means releasing old patterns, thoughts, beliefs about yourself that no longer resonate with you.

“If you want to fly, give up everything that weighs you down” — Buddha

This could be physical or tangible things that you need to release and let go of. Whether it be purging your closets or things in your garage that has just been collecting dust, whatever it is, it is time to release it.

Everything holds energy. The more cluttered your environment is, the more cluttered your mind will be.

Once you start releasing those things you no longer need or want in your life you will feel such an energy shift. The heaviness of those objects will no longer be weighing you down. It will free up such mental space and energy that you was draining from you daily.

Clipping your wings may also mean letting go of a work environment or even an entire career that does not align with you anymore. Do not waste another second of your life pouring into something that only drains your energy and and dims your spirit. Follow what your heart is guiding you towards. Your intuition is your guiding post of what step you need to take next into this new chapter of your life.

Give the new you a warm welcome

Sometimes you don’t feel like yourself because you are growing. Give yourself the time to reflect on the misalignments in your life. Misalignments are opportunities. Misalignments are reminders of where you should be.

Give yourself the grace to not be in alignment. You must first discover what is not in alignment for you before learning what is. If a job or relationship does not feel right to you, follow your inner guide to what does feel right.

Release any attachments you may have developed to a past version of you, and give the new you a warm welcome. Create space for the new parts of you blossoming into existence. It’s a new chapter, a new season in your life. Love on the parts of you that you’re just discovering. Love on the old parts of you as you set them free.

Give yourself space to decompress

Do a self audit on yourself and ask yourself what is still in alignment with you. What do you still believe in or resonate with? It’s completely ok to change and it’s ok to stay the same. Regardless of where you are in your evolution, it’s good to create the environment to evaluate your sense of direction in your life.

Give yourself the space to slow down and go within. That is where you will find the answers that you seek. Allow yourself the space to just be. Give yourself the space to rest. Give yourself the time to slow down.

Often during seasons of change it can be both emotionally and physically exhausting as you shed layers both internally and externally. It is important during these seasons of evolution to give yourself the space to rest and to just be. It is often during these empty spaces of decompression that you see clearly what your body and mind needs. Listen to that inner guidance.

If you keep going at the pace you have always gone you will find yourself feeling burnt out. Evolving into a new version of you, and rediscovering what it is you want in this life can take time. Slowing down will quicken your awakening of the next steps you need to take. It will allow space and room for that version inside of you waiting to burst through, or that dream in your heart ready to unfold and bloom.

Final Thoughts

You cannot force a flower to bloom. A flower blooms gracefully in its own time and in its own rhythm. Just as you are evolving into the version of you that you desire, or allowing the dreams in your heart to fully unfold, each layer will bloom in its own rhythm.

So give yourself the space to decompress. Allow for time and periods of rest. Change your environment if you need to. Give yourself the grace to make mistakes along the way. Do not hold yourself to unrealistic and perfectionistic ideals.

The new you will begin to emerge as you begin to clip your wings and allow a new set to grow. And as this new you begins to blossom and unfold, give yourself a warm welcome.

Your dreams are waiting to bloom, so allow them room to breathe, to grow, to be. There is a version of you that is waiting to spread their wings, so allow yourself the room to breathe, to grow, to be.