Your Dream Life Starts here

Sponsored by Kikki.K

How do you create ‘your dream life’? And is it REALLY possible?? Well, to be honest, I’m yet to find out. The journey that has got me to this point right now has been long, arduous and emotional. It’s also been game-changing, resonant and powerful. So would I change it? No.

If there was ever a time where I thought “My Dream Life’ was starting, it would be right NOW. Now, I feel worthy, I have experience and direction and I’ve completed a few milestones which have given me a sense of purpose and confidence. I know what makes me tick and what doesn’t and my sense of ‘Being-ness’ (yes I’m sure that’s a word)…has grown.

At the start of the year Kikki. K reached out to me to hear about how I’m creating my dream life and I had hit a turning point. It really got me thinking about what am I doing?, why am I doing it? and how does it all come together? At the time I didn’t know and I’m still not 100% certain but there is one thing I am sure of:

My goal has always been to educate people, leave them better than how I found them and to give back to the world in some way.

That is somewhat mandatory.

The Re-building phase:

I would like to think (hope) I am coming to the end of the ‘re-building phase’ and entering into the ‘hustle phase’. The re-building phase has largely been a consequence of some emotional life events over the past few years. Even though I had finished my law degree, my blog was on fire and I had never been in better shape physically I just couldn’t focus and commit to these things like I had been able to before. I had to bed down and basically start again. This took a big toll on me physically and mentally which culminated in severe anxiety and social phobia. I had decided to stay in Australia where I have no family or support because this had been my home for 10 years. I felt whatever I decided to do would mean I had to re-invent myself in some way and Australia seemed like less upheaval although there have been many times a big hug from my family would have been the best medicine. I’ve had my times where I thought I couldn’t go on and that even if I did carry on I’d end up working the 9-5 in a job I didn’t enjoy. I had to change my mindset. I had dreams, ambitions and goals that I wanted to see through along with healing my heart and soul.

I decided to focus on the things that really helped ME personally. I became a Personal trainer and Mindfulness and Meditation teacher largely because health and fitness is my passion and at the time I had to do more of that to make me ‘me’ again. I went through part-time jobs trying to pay my bills in ‘survival mode’. I sold pretty much everything that I had worth any value to ‘pay my rent’. I HAD TO MAKE IT WORK.

Even though I really love my website and blog I just wasn’t getting the interest that I had been getting in the beginning and furthermore I just didn’t have the time to invest in all of that. Social Media was changing and I didn’t have the resources or time to keep up (like, what on earth is a funnel??). I had to put it on the back burner for the time being until I could afford to re-brand and re-design which I was determined to make happen in due course.

In Mid 2018 many of my PT clients had been talking about my Law Degree (to be honest, in the midst of ‘survival mode’ the Law degree had become a distant memory). They were all encouraging me to do my Graduate Diploma to get admitted as a lawyer. They could see I loved what I was doing with Fitness but it seemed obvious to invest 12 months into study which would open further doors and add to my security as a single woman living in Sydney. I REALLY thought long and hard about this. At the time I wasn’t a citizen so it meant another outlay of fees that I had to pay upfront and to be honest I wasn’t really in the best position for that. Did I want to become a Lawyer?? I had convinced myself ‘no’ for a long time. What’s weird is that I had started doing ‘corporate speaking’ about stress management. What I found is that the audience would ask me about Law and I guess feel some sort of connection with that. I even got invited back to my Law school to give a talk about stress and to lead a meditation and things started tying together.

I decided to enrol and take my chances with getting work experience. I got the first job that I applied for which was really surprising. I managed to get a loan for my fees and just started ‘doing’ it and getting through. I’m not going to lie, the last 12 months have been really demanding with study and working. A real ‘grit’ of a year. But I got through it. I finished my studies a few weeks ago and I get admitted as a lawyer next year.

SO what next?

The Hustle phase:

Well, I’ve come to this place of self-realisation and confidence. I am REALLY enjoying my health and fitness business and adding new facets to that. I just engaged a designer to look at re-branding sometime next year and I have some meetings in the Legal space to talk about my future plans there. I have been doing corporate speaking about stress management and I’m planning on growing that area of my business for 2020 with workshops and corporate coaching in mindfulness and meditation.

When people ask me what I do, after I respond I tend to get an overwhelming look, accompanied with: ‘how do you do it all?’ and it took me back to the beginning of the year when I was faced with the same questions. HOW do I do it all? And WHY do I do it all? I started looking through Kristina’s ‘Dream Life’ book to start drilling down on what my ‘Dream Life’ actually looks like. It’s fair to say it includes: Health and Fitness, Meditation and Mindfulness, Helping and educating others, living by my Being Values and being involved with Humanitarian issues. The book asks the hard questions, like: ‘what are the three dreams that are most important to you?’ ‘what would your dream day involve?’ ‘what would your dream week involve?’ accompanied with useful and practical exercises to get you closer to living your dream life.

I have been embodying this ‘dream life’ productiveness and intent. I’m sure you can relate: you’ve been through the struggle, you’ve studied, you’ve done jobs you really don’t want to do, you’ve sold your personal possessions to pay your rent and you’ve felt immense frustration that you’re ’not there yet’ there must be an end game.

What I do know is that I won’t give up. I have so many dreams and ambitions and I hope you can be a part of them all. 2020 is the perfect time to start living your dream life and Kristina has created not only the tools to embody that but also an awesome community of ‘Dream Life’ go-getters!

Make sure you listen to her awesome podcast here and listen to the audio guide here.

What I love about Kristina’s Vision is that she is creating positive social impact which is exactly what I am endeavouring to do with my ‘dream life’. Check out how her ‘dream life’ movement has impacted the world here.

If you want to shop the Dream Life collection click here

If you would like to hear more about Sophie’s coaching, speaking and other professional services please email her on sophie@sophiebenbow.com

Sponsored by Kikki. K

I would LOVE for you to comment on this post and tell me how YOU are living your dream life! I love hearing from you and creating an inspiring community x x x

Happy Dreaming xx

Photography: Brad Hunter at Salty Dingo Media