3 Steps To Defining What A Flourishing And Thriving Life Means To You

Preview: Flourishing and thriving mean something different to everyone. Learn three steps to define what flourishing and thriving mean to you.

What does it mean to flourish and thrive? Because these abstract concepts mean something different to everyone, let’s begin with a few definitions from Word Hippo.

Flourish means to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way or to exist in abundance.

Thrive means to grow strong and vigorously, to be in or improve in health and fitness, to exist in abundance, to have an exciting or fulfilling life, or to burst with energy.

When I hear those definitions, I want to say, “Yes, please! I want to be growing. I want to be healthy. I want to live in abundance. I want to have that fulfilling life.”

Which of these definitions resonates most with you? Or maybe none of them? These definitions mean something different to everyone because we understand them through our own mindsets, past experiences, and even our current situation.

How can you define what it means to you to flourish and thrive when it’s an abstract concept? In this article, you will learn three steps that can help you define what flourishing and thriving mean to you.

Step 1: Pause

The first step you need to take is to pause. You must still be long enough to think about what flourishing and thriving mean to you. You might have a nagging sense that you’re not happy with your current situation or that there’s something more you want for your family, but you need to spend some intentional time figuring out what is missing.

I know you have a lot going on. You are busy with everything you need to do in a day as a homeschool parent. So how can you find time to be still? Everyone’s situation and personality are different, so I cannot provide one solution that works for everyone, but I want to ask you a question. How important is this to you? When something is important, you will make the time to do what needs to be done. You may need to let one of your balls drop for 20-30 minutes to focus on what is important but not so urgent. I talked about this more in episode 92 when we were talking about the different types of balls that you juggle.

Step 2: Stop Comparing

The next step is to stop comparing. Society has given us so many ideals for all aspects of our life. Some are healthy; some aren’t. Probably none are unique to you. What works for one family or person may not work for you. It’s important to identify your values and think about your talents, gifts, and strengths. Consider your unique circumstances, the ages of your children, the special needs you or your children have, job situations, and your family dynamics. I can provide some inspiration, but you have to be careful that you’re not trying to compare the way you’re living to someone else’s vision. Your vision is unique to you. What you want in a thriving home atmosphere and what it means to flourish and thrive differs from everybody else. You can look around and get inspiration from others, but dig deep and identify your unique vision.

Step 3: Cast Your Vision

This brings us to step three, casting your vision. The terms flourish and thrive represent abstract concepts. There are no objective standards against which you can measure if you are flourishing and thriving. So what does it look like for you? Think about the definitions at the beginning of the article. As you refine your definitions of these words, think about your answers to the following questions.

• What do you want your home atmosphere to be like?
• How do you want your home to feel?
• How do you want to be spending your time?
• What legacy do you want to leave?
• If you were to draw a picture or a symbol that represented this, what would you draw and why?

Everyone’s vision is different. And yours may still be a little hazy even after considering these questions. That’s okay. You might need to allow some time to refine your vision. You will probably see examples throughout your day that will help you refine your vision.

Next Steps

Now that you have a vision of what it means to you to flourish and thrive, what’s next? There are two things that you might want to consider doing.

You might need to identify which area of your life you want to focus on to help you move towards that vision. One way you can do that is to download the thriving life journal. This free resource has assessments to help you look at different areas of your life, your home atmosphere, and your homeschool. It helps you identify where you are now and where you want to be and then find the places where there’s a gap between those two. You can identify where you want to focus your efforts to move towards living a more fulfilling life.

The second option is to join the Thriving Homes Group Coaching program. During this program, we will spend some time refining your vision of a thriving home atmosphere and look at obstacles that might be preventing you from achieving your vision. And we’ll help you to put some action steps in place so that you can take a step toward your vision.