I was listening to my favorite podcast ( the SimplyBe. Podcast — I beg you to subscribe if you’re a woman on the hunt to live VIBRANTLY in your truth) with a life coach for women and host of the Love, Sex + Magic podcast, Mel Wells, to which I was enlightened on the concept of Environment As Happiness.

In the episode, Turn Your Dream Life Into Your Real Life (I can’t take credit for this post’s title) Mel admits she MUST be in a certain environment to thrive. And I’m not talking about working at a golden desk in a white room with orange fluffy pillows. Although now that I say that, it sounds quite lovely.

What Mel was referring to was the specific location in the world that makes her feel unstoppable — the place that causes her to burst at the seams with ideas, inspiration, happiness, and life. She said:

“When I’m in a city and it’s cold outside, I feel like I’m only operating at 10%. When I’m in nature, and I have the beach and trees nearby, that is when I can focus and really flourish as a business owner, and just in general.”

Um. To quote Cody Rigsby (but on the opposite side of the spectrum), I CAN RELATE.

In essence, our environments make or break us.

It got me thinking about leaving Chicago. The city — the home — that made me feel so much like me that I never wanted to leave it. It was the city where I had grown from a postgrad student to an adult. From a woman who had found herself to a new mother.

When people tell me, “That’s so great you can work from anywhere,” it’s not all that accurate. I can’t get into that one creative headspace all writers desperately crave to be in UNLESS I’m in Chicago. Artists of the world, am I right?

This is a big reason why the Windy City and I were a tailor-made match in city style heaven. I vibed with every coffee house, every jazz joint, every comedy club, every baseball game, every trendy restaurant, every vibrant outfit, every eccentric person on the street, and every neighborhood shop. I was addicted to the energy.

More than anything, I appreciated the fine art of what made Chicago, Chicago. I appreciated the hustle of the suited up bankers in the Financial District. I appreciated the mixologists’ perfecting of a superb cocktail on a swanky rooftop lounge.

I was in awe of the I don’t give a fuck-ness-as-long-as-it-makes-me-me I was constantly surrounded by.

Let’s Get One Thing Straight, Though

While life will always be more about who you’re with than where you are, there is something to be said about a place that makes you feel completely free.

Well that both invigorated and depressed me. But I have a point!

While reflecting on the city that got me, it made me think of what I can do in the East Coast town I now live in to untap that euphoria state of mind referenced before.

And so I give you…

3 Ways To Turn Your Dream Life Into Your Real Life (No Matter Where You Are)

Make Your Space as You as Possible

Maybe it’s your office or your living room. Maybe it’s a measly corner in the kitchen next to the coffee bar. It doesn’t matter the size or location of your You Space.

Just pick a spot and fill it with things that are representative of the most fabulous version of yourself.

I rarely — I’m being modest — I NEVER get the chance to do this because Jake and I have been living in rentals for the past 6? years now? Yes, 6.

Because we haven’t pulled the home owner status trigger yet, HE WON’T LET ME HANG MY THINGS. Nothing. All of my mirrors and artwork is boarded up in our spare room — sad, lonely, and cold — just waiting for the movers to pack them up and bring them to a home in place of a rental.

So I’m making our front room (as I call it) my You Space. It is where I do my writing, my reading, my business ideating, and my best thinking. By the end of this weekend it will be bursting with bold colors, sexy cologne scented candles, and pictures that make me happy.

Make your space as You as possible.

Dress Yourself as You as Possible

This is such a big one, guys.

Don’t fall victim to basic outfitting (black leggings + grey hoodies, we see you) if your soul is screaming at you to wear a yellow and green striped jumpsuit. On the flip side, don’t let someone make you feel boring for wearing black every day if that is what makes you feel like You.

Dress yourself as You as possible.

Hang Out with People Who Make You Feel as YOU as Possible

I did a fun exercise awhile back, instructed by self-improvement enthusiast Jen Sincero, where she had her readers write down the names of people who made us feel fabulous — people who celebrate and uplift you. Don’t think. Just write.

I was SHOCKED at the names that my pen had revealed. It was a mix of good friends, former coworkers, and people whom I had only had a few conversations or encounters with.

I took a good hard look at that list, and found a running theme — all of these people believed in me.

That was an empowering moment. And I encourage you all to try it.

Hang out with people who make you feel as You as possible.

THANK YOU for reading! Please let me know if this article helped you. Embrace the you that you love, and build your life around the version of yourself that you are Capital E Excited about daily. Own your you-ness!

You can take the girl out the city. But you can’t take the city out the girl.

Be you.

XOXO,

Ashley

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