Hello and welcome to episode 111 of the Choosing Happy Podcast.

I'm Heather Masters, your host, and today I got a little bit contemplative.

So today is more of a stream of consciousness episode, but it's asking the big questions around your value and whether you've lived, loved and matter.

So if you are out there feeling isolated, alone, and that your life doesn't matter, this might just be the episode for you.

So stay tuned for this week's Choosing Happy Podcast.

Hello and welcome to the Choosing Happy Podcast.

I'm Heather Masters, your host.

And today I wanted to get a little bit, I was going to say serious introspective, I think is the word.

We're in a chaotic time globally, if you think about what's happening around the world.

And I think that, and this might just be my mind read, but I think there are a lot of people who are taking care of others, having more to do in terms of looking after their kids, looking after their parents, looking after loved ones.

And in addition to that, you know, there's the threat of losing our jobs.

And it looks like from what I can see on LinkedIn, that it's getting tougher to get new jobs, especially if you're a certain age.

I think there are more of us who are finding life a bit of a challenge right now and maybe more of us who are feeling isolated, living on our own.

Maybe we've lost our jobs and getting out into the world is tougher.

And isolation is a huge mindset challenge.

So we have all of this happening and we have an environment that really doesn't support happiness, in my opinion.

It's an environment that drives fear, that encourages us to question ourselves, to doubt ourselves, because after all, where's the money to be made from happy people?

And I was contemplating the words of Brendon Burchard, who did some research on people who were dying and what they felt they were asked at the end of their life when they got to the pearly gates.

And he says, it's, did you live, did you love and did you matter?

I think there are seasons in life as well.

So for me, for myself, I want to just explain that really from my perspective.

Do I believe I've lived?

Yes, I do.

I have been very fortunate to have seen many places around the world.

I've experienced so much, and often I don't share it because I feel like if I share it, I feel like, you know, Granddad, who tells those stories of when I was in the war or when I was a lad or When I was a lass.

So I don't share my experiences that often and maybe they're worth sharing, I don't know.

But that's not the point here.

So I have lived, I've traveled, I've experienced a lot of things.

Have I loved?

Yes, I had a soul flame, I would like to call him.

So I loved completely and open heartedly.

And I love my son completely and open heartedly, you know, unconditionally.

And so yes, I have loved.

Have I mattered?

Yes, I mattered to my parents because I cared for both my parents until they died.

I'd like to think I mattered to my son or matter to my son.

So I, I have mattered.

But after my parents passed and my son left home, it was a bit of a shock for me and in a way I felt like I'd done enough.

But yet I'm still here.

And I'm sure there are other people out there who have had that experience, especially after caring for loved ones and losing them, because it's a difficult place to be when you're caring for someone.

To begin to visualize a future for yourself beyond, to begin to prepare something that works, especially when it's over a long period of time.

It feels almost treacherous to do such a thing.

And yet it is so, so important to remember that this is your one life, this is your one experience that will be beyond that of others.

You know, following in my intuition, the times I didn't follow my intuition were the times that things went most drastically wrong.

And the people who'd encouraged me to take the decisions that I did were never around to cope with the after effects.

And I think it's the same, you know, it's that remembrance that we are who we are.

We are the only person that's going to be here for the rest of our lives.

We're the only ones who are sitting in the solitude with ourselves.

And that's why we matter.

Our life does matter.

And it can only matter long term if we're willing to take that responsibility for caring for ourselves.

And that gets me onto a question of value.

The world rewards people supposedly on the value they contribute, but I think it's completely upside down and skewiffed.

The world really rewards people on the amount of money they can make for an organization rather than actually for the value that they bring.

So as a carer, as a nurse, as someone who deals with the very aspect of prolonging and healing and contributing to life, they're often the ones who are paid the least or at least very you know, survival, wages, if you like.

I'd like you to consider, if you're out there and pondering whether you matter, whether you've loved, whether you have really lived, really take it an honest inventory to where you have contributed, to where you know you matter and make a difference.

You know, I continue to write my newsletter and do these podcasts in the hope that it does matter to someone out there, even if it's just one person, if it makes a difference, if it changes the way you show up in the world, more importantly, if it changes the way you value yourself, then that's really what matters.

Because our value is in being here.

And I don't.

I can easily, you know, look at this, the amazing statistics on the miracle that got you here, you know, the 17 million to 1 chance that you've showed up in this world and that you're here at this moment.

But what's more important is that you value yourself because it's in valuing yourself that you really bring value to the world.

I have many, many gifts, and I have struggled since caring for my parents to focus and think how I best bring those gifts to the world.

You know, I can work with a business and really strategically help them see where they can improve, not just their marketing, but their operations, where they can save money, where they can encourage staff, where they can really bring value to the world as a business and value to themselves as a business.

As I say, it's not all about money, and yet it is, because we can help others without really valuing ourselves.

But the level at which we help them is really only scratching the surface.

Because if we don't value ourselves, we can't bring all, all of that energy, that core essence of our truth, to that person if we don't value it for ourselves.

And although maybe value shouldn't be measured in monetary terms, that's the way we do measure it.

It's an exchange of energy.

That's how we measure it at the moment.

You know, there are other ways to measure it, but if you're a coach or a transformational practitioner or someone who helps and heals and you have your own business, then you really have to value your gifts and how you show up in the world.

Because once you truly, truly value the fact that you do matter, that you're here for a reason, for a purpose, then the rest of it will show up.

But you have to ask for a fair exchange.

Yes, you can help others who maybe can't afford you right now, but only once your cup is full, once Your energy is full.

So it takes a kind of audit of where you're giving your energy away and whether that's leaking energy rather than keeping your cup full.

We're in a time where there are so many energy thieves, including the media, including the government.

If you think of Monsters, Inc.

For instance, you could kind of imagine that that's how.

How the government, the monetary system, all of the systems that feel so against your purpose that they are here for a reason.

But it's how you create your own energy stores, how you protect your own energy stores from all of the environments out there, from the environment you live in, the people you connect with, the people you serve.

You know, don't throw away your energy so that it depletes you, so you can't matter long term.

We all matter long term.

You matter so much in this materium, otherwise you wouldn't be here at this particular, particular time.

And if you feel that you've been called to be here at this particular time, it's really important to look at how you matter, where you matter and how you want to express that and give to the world, whether it's through art, whether it's through writing, whether it's through coaching, whether it's through workshops and transformational work.

It's a time to reflect, look back, see where you've loved, lived and mattered, and then decide how you'd like to do that, how you're inspired to do that going forward.

And if you've been feeling less than and undervalued and you've withdrawn, make this a moment that you reflect and choose differently.

Choose what is going to bring you back to aliveness in your own way.

How you want to contribute and fully embrace life and feel alive, how you want to matter, how you want to make a difference and forget the monetary side of it, while at the same time recognizing that once your cup is full and you're ready to fully show up, that the energy exchange does matter, that it has to be an exchange rather than a drain, and that you being fully alive, fully loved, fully energized, makes a huge difference to the people you meet around you, makes a huge difference to your clients, to the people that you serve, while at the same time remembering that it's about keeping your cup full, keeping your energy strong.

Because without that, you're not serving fully.

You're serving in a way that is less than you can.

You know, if you had a scale of 1 to 100%, how much are you really showing up in the world?

And possibly a lot of it is around having that energy, having that vision of aliveness, really believing and valuing yourself and that what you do actually does matter.

I hope this helps someone out there today.

It's something that I've been contemplating.

I was actually contemplating letting go of the podcast and I'm just hoping that this, this matters, this podcast, this little weekly showing up in some way.

And I wish you a blessed and an amazing week, irrespective of what it looks out, irrespective of what it looks like on the outside.

Find your value.

Find value in your life.

Find that aliveness, whether it's walking in nature.

It's not about it being massively big.

It's what matters, what is right for your life and your purpose and being here at this time.

I hope this helps.

Have a blessed and amazing week and stay happy.

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this week's episode.

If you enjoyed it or think it would be valuable to others, please do share.

And if you really enjoyed it, please please leave me a review.

It really helps the podcast.

All of the links are in the show notes and I look forward to seeing you next week on the Choosing Happy Podcast.