Having your world turned upside down - like many of us have experienced recently - can really throw a lot of shit into question. What is left if my work is taken away? Am I happy with where I live? Who I live with? Does my employer respect me and care about my safety? There’s a lot of uncertainty and you might be left feeling stuck, lost and confused. But even though lots of things are on hold right now, there are still thing you can do to get you closer to where you want to be.

You do not have to do all of this at once. The first step in making significant change is the realisation that you aren’t where you want to be. And if this is where you’re at, then you’re probably further along than you think. These steps are small things you can do right now to start making progress away from where you are and towards where you want to be. You are never out of options, you are never too far gone, you can start right now, where you are and with what you have.

1. Explore what your ‘dream life’ actually looks like

What you want out of life is totally unique to you, and might change over time. Maybe you’re living what you once thought was your dream life and now it doesn’t feel so great. It’s all personal and it’s all okay. Have you ever got really specific about what you want out of life? That dream job that you want, why will it feel good? Will it allow you to be creative, to go on luxury holidays, to help others, to spend more time with your family? These are big questions that you might not know the answer to, but you can start to wheels turning by looking at who’s life you admire (or maybe are a little jealous of?) and asking yourself why. Or thinking about what you wanted to be when you were younger, what brings joy to your life, what would you do if money wasn’t an object? Your dream life might seem a million miles away from where you are right now, or it might just be as simple as having better boundaries around work so you can take the weekends off - it doesn’t have to be extravagant and it definitely doesn’t have to match anyone else’s.

2. List your strengths and reasons why you CAN do it

What about you is already ready for this new life? Your gut reaction might be ‘absolutely nothing, I’m not ready at all.’ But I’m afraid that’s not the answer. I can guarantee you already have qualities that you need. Maybe it’s sheer determination? Are you good at making friends and connection with people? Maybe you want to start a creative business on the side of your full time job and your time management skills are second to none so you can make it work. These qualities are going to be as unique as you and your definition of your dream life. Start with a list of 5 things, but try to keep adding to it as you think of them - I bet there’s more than you thought!

3. Ask yourself ‘What’s stopping me?’

And I don’t mean this as a rhetorical ‘What’s stopping you? Go for it!’ I mean literally, what are your obstacles right now? Don’t have the financial security to quit your toxic job on the spot? Worried what your family will say? Believe that you’re not good enough? Too young? Too old? Whatever it is, be honest about it because these are the obstacles that you’ll have to face. A lot of the time it’s not enough to ignore them, they have to be faced head on. So if you can name them and know that they will cause you problems, you can prepare to overcome them. Don’t worry there’ll be plenty of other surprise obstacles to overcome as well.

Any time you decide to make a change, there’ll be voices telling

you it’s not possible

4. Start learning one new skill that will help you

I’m sure while thinking about the previous questions you managed to think up a few things your missing, things your not good at or need to improve on. So pick just one and make a start where you can. This doesn’t have to cost you lots of time or money. Skillshare are offering a two months free trial right now of their premium service and they have loads of online classes on different subjects. The internet is also full of free learning resources - YouTube tutorials, Ted Talks, blogs, podcasts…. even some adult colleges are offering free online learning courses right now. Whatever you feel your capacity for learning is right now, you’ll be able to find something.

5. Surround yourself with inspiration

Any time you decide to make a change, there’ll be voices telling you it’s not possible. That might be your voice, or someone else’s, or both. So make an conscious decision to find things that prove it is possible. Follow people on social media that are already doing what you want to be doing, or surround yourself people who are being unapologetically themselves. If it’s possible for them, it’s possible for you.

If you’re not loving where you are in life right now, you have all the power to make changes. It doesn’t have to be burn-your-old-life-to-the-ground dramatic (though it might be), it might be slow and steady and feel like your not making any progress for a really long time, progress is rarely linear, but the biggest differences are made up of all the little steps you take.

Five things you can do this week to get closer to your dream life