Living a Life Less Ordinary

A life less ordinary takes integrity.

It takes being a stand for something greater than yourself and today’s spotlight Stacey Herbert lives this way.

You might be wondering why I’m posting a Friday spotlight on Saturday and my answer is integrity, or rather a breakdown in integrity. I’m going to be writing more about this in future but for now let me just say this –

the level of integrity that’s gotten you to wherever you are becomes insufficient to take you to the next level of whatever you’re up to in life.

Simply said, what got you here won’t get you there.

And I’m talking about my own integrity for a moment. I could give you the reasons and excuses for why the spotlight didn’t run yesterday, but what’s important is that it didn’t, not the why. Part of the power that lies in integrity is the ability to acknowledge and clean up the breakdowns quickly, without the drama.

How could I not own this breakdown and then have Stacey here as a guest? She writes brilliantly about what she calls the integrity gap:

What started out as an integrity breakdown has quickly become an opportunity to realize there’s a gap, and what better time to own that than here in Stacey’s light?

So without further ado here is Stacey Herbert, a fellow philosopher (we both love the work of Brian Johnson and his Philosophers Notes). I encourage you to read her blog and follow her adventures. I trust you will fall in love with her as I have.

 

1.  Why are you here?

If you’d asked me this question a little while back I may not have been able to give you an answer. I was stumbling through life, having wonderful ups and life altering downs.

I had no focus and struggled to put a label on me or identify my purpose in life.

Then something incredible changed in me. It’s been a long time coming and at times very painful, but it’s opened me up to who I am and why I’m here.

Although it scares me to articulate it publicly, the reason I am here on this earth is to love, encourage, enable and support people to live their best, most highest, audacious life. It doesn’t sound like much of a job description, but I’m slowly coming to terms with that. My first task is to lead by example.

2.  What is your future self-calling for?

A family. I’m nurturer. I’m happiest when rolling in the sand with children, making up stories, using our imaginations and having simple fun. So I guess my future self is calling for a partner who embraces all that I am, accepts all that I’m not and loves with me with fire that burns up anything to the contrary.

I want to live a life by the ocean, playing in the sand with my babies and anyone else’s who are in the near vicinity. My future self calls for freedom and stability. Answering this question made me cry.

3.  How do you honour that calling?

I live by the ocean when I can; I make it my mission to show love, laughter and kindness to as many people as I can each day. I want to live a love filled life, so I have to be love and radiate it in my own authentic way. I never realized how fun and liberating that could be.

I’m on a journey as much as anyone else. Words and energy are so incredibly powerful, I’m trying to live a lot more consciously whilst still maintaining the ‘live wire-ness’, which makes me.

4.  What is both effortless and life-giving to you?

I must sound like a broken old record here, but I’m an encourager and lover. An idea generator; I want to help you solve your problem so I can see you smile again, and we can get back to the important things in life, like having fun. I give effortlessly, and it’s life affirming in that a smile, word of thanks or simple appreciation makes me feel incredibly blessed to be in a position to help.

5.  What do you do best?

Man, your killing me here Sandi. I do ME best.

It’s taken time to realize this, I have tried my hand at being lots of other people. But when I’m being me, I’m in my element. Otherwise, that would have to be writing, portrait photography and encouraging others to experience their own power and greatness. I love being part of another person’s success.

6.  What is extraordinary about your work?

I think occasionally my honesty shocks people and they let their guard down and share with me just as honestly. I love that. I use stories, personal experiences and age-old wisdom, to connect with people and effect change in them. That’s always my goal.

I write from the heart. I’m very much in a molding and refining place in my life right now, trying to work out what exactly I have to offer to the world and how I will do that. I know it’s to help others live an incredible life, live with integrity and be themselves. But like I said earlier I must lead by example, and that’s the hard part. I want to be the leader of none, but the influencer of thousands, millions even. Go big or go home; I say!

7.  What is guaranteed to inspire you?

Beauty inspires me and I see it in the strangest of things and the most unexpected of places.

People who are able to rise above the bullshit in life and still smile, still have compassion for others and give without expectation. Those people inspire and humble me.

8.  What will your epitaph say if you’ve lived life on your terms?

Can I say, “When” I’ve lived on my terms?

It will say, “Stacey does not lie here, her spirit has returned to its maker. It hovers over this universe and resides in your heart. For she is love, she was love and will always be love. Love never dies, it lives forever.”

Stacey Herbert, writes over at www.mylifestylemax.com The Smart Persons Guide to a Life-Less-Ordinary. Practical personal development for those who seek to live their best life now.