The word “sustainability” is usually associated with protecting the environment, but it can also apply to you and your life. How will you sustain the life you love living? Are you able to keep up with the life you’re living now? Do you have what it takes to keep up with the YOU you want to become?
If you want to manage and adjust your lifestyle so it better aligns with your “now” life, I suggest creating a Sustainability Plan. Sustaining yourself means knowing yourself. What do you need versus what do you want? What are your “must haves?”Are you living in your strengths or in your weaknesses? What will it take to maintain your current lifestyle?
If you love your life the way it is and want to maintain it, this plan’s for you. Creating a Sustainability Plan offers a reality check that will help answer many questions.
What’s a Sustainability Plan?
It’s a roadmap to sustaining and maintaining your life by understanding what it takes to keep you going and keep growing. Figure out what you must do now to manage and maintain your future life. Then, answer these questions: What needs to change? What needs to stay and what needs to go? What fulfills you and truly makes you happy? What do you need to stay in step with life’s shifts?
Here are a few steps to get you started.
- Do some self-discovery. Who are you and where are you now?
- Check your self-alignment. Do you align with who and where you want to be?
- Establish priorities. What are the needs, wants and “must haves?”
- Discover your new opportunities. Have you identified what awaits you?
- Determine your capabilities. Are you biting off more than you can chew?
- Know your personal viability. Are you financially, emotionally, and physically sustainable?
- Know your personal protections. Does your environment (family, friends, and community) support you?
- Know your personal equity. Are you investing in yourself (self-care)?
It’s time to meet up with the You today and create a sustainable You for tomorrow. Please email me if you’d like my Sustainability Plan template.
Pat Landaker is a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) and owner of Living La Vida Senior, Ageless Aging, and Senior Solutions. She serves on the ASA’s Innovation and Social Impact Council, the CSA’s Certification Council, the City of Henderson’s Senior Citizens Advisory Commission. She teaches Positive Aging at UNLV/OLLI and throughout the Valley. Email her at contact@livinglavidasenior.com.