Have you ever heard of a personal manifesto? I hadn't before, but I created one for myself, and in this episode, I explain how I made it. I share some pieces of my own personal manifesto and explain how you can create yours too. It's honestly amazing because it helps you set boundaries, stay true to yourself, and have a better understanding of who you are and what you want. Creating something that can serve as your own guideline or compass in life is truly liberating!
If you want, you can read the transcriptions of Episode 3 of Under The Baobab Tree here:
Hey, welcome under the baobab tree. The other day, I had the idea to write a personal manifesto. And maybe it's a concept that already exists, I actually don't know, I actually honestly don't really know what it is, it just came to me as a deep feeling that I wanted to create this guideline for myself, because sometimes as a retired people pleaser, I still have boundary issues.
And so I wanted to create a document with things that I wanted to live by, with things that are important to me. So I just started writing. And I want to share more about it with you, especially if you have trouble with setting boundaries, or with knowing who you are or what you want. But even if you just want to create something for yourself, where you can go back to as a guideline, it's also very interesting.
And if you feel blocked in your life, if you feel you're not living your potential, or you're not really following your dream, because you feel confused, or you're not sure, or you don't want to say no, or you feel other people's energies and opinions influence you a lot. A personal manifesto helps to be the best version of yourself. It can help to improve your life. And it can be a guideline for decisions when you need to make decisions. It can be a compass, that you hang somewhere in your house, or you read once in a while. You can use it when you feel lost, or when you don't feel like yourself, or when you need to make important decisions or small decisions.
And what you put in it is up to you. I really encourage you to follow your intuition. That's what I'm all about. I don't believe there is a way how it has to be. Because it is a personal manifesto. And it needs to feel good to you. But I just want to share some things. Maybe it can help you or inspire you, when you will write your personal manifesto.
Things that you can write in it. So there are six different things that I want to share with you that I wrote in it. And that you maybe also can use.
First of all, it's very important that you write this manifesto in the first person, so you write it in the "i" form, "I believe that", "I find it important that" ...
So let me share you the six things that I want to share with you. First of all, what can be interesting for you to do in your manifesto is to find the themes, the topics, or the areas in your life, that are important to you, or that are the summary of your life. So it can be work, family, health, personal development, money, it is up to you, really.
So that in itself can already be a very clarifying exercise to write down. Like what are actually all these topics or areas in my life, what's going on, what's important there.
And then the second thing that you can write in your manifesto is what is important to you. You can write this for every area that you already wrote down. Or if you don't have an area or you just want to write it in general, you can write it down in general, what is important to you? You can also write What gives you joy, what gives you peace? Or what are your values?
And I just wanted to share some of the things that I wrote down. This is not for you to copy, of course, because it's your own personal manifesto that you will write, but it's just for you to give an example of what I mean.
So some of the things that I wrote down for example, "what is important to me, health, healing and growth, spirit, kindness, building the new, freedom, connection with like minded souls, having a happy home, helping others transform, nature and the sun and so on."
So whatever comes up for you what is important to you, write it down here.
And the third thing you can write down your manifesto are the things you are learning right now, the things you want to grow in, the things you're even integrating in your life. For example, I wrote down what I am learning in my life right now is to be completely authentic and vulnerable. Also to slow down to rest, and to relax. And to worry less. These are just a few examples, right? But what is that for you? What are you learning right now.
The fourth thing that I wrote down in my manifesto, and that you also can write down if you want to, are the things I don't have time for. And for me, this was very liberating to write down. And when I wrote this, I really felt how this is where I want to put my boundaries, because these are things I don't have time for. So these are things I want to put boundaries, within myself and with others. So let me read some of the things.
"I don't have time for gossip, negativity, complaints, ungratefulness, judgment, fear, predicted emotions, lack pressure, and so on." So from others, but also from myself. So what are the things you don't have time for in your life? So this means these are really the things that... that's just where your limit lies, that's behavior you don't accept from yourself or from others. And what is that for you? What is really important there for you?
The fifth thing to write down in your manifesto, or at least what I wrote down, are the things that I feel I have every right to. So let me read some of the things I wrote down.
"I have every right to change my opinion, take my time to respond, do things my way, set boundaries, stop interactions that don't contribute to my well-being, choose who I want to surround myself with, choose how I want my life to be, choose how I want to fill my time, change my mind, follow my heart and opinion, slow down and relax, do things differently, feel what I feel, believe what I believe, I have every right to do nothing, say no - as long as I respect others people's rights and freedom to do the same. And as long as I don't harm others"
This is like a snippet of what I wrote down there. So what do you feel you have every right to. And if there's something that I said that you were triggered by, maybe that's interesting to explore, too.
And so the sixth thing I wrote down in my manifesto are the things I want to give my energy to. So for me, for example, I wrote, "I want to give my energy to having fun, relaxing, learning new things, creating or building with others, eating healthy, exercising, a positive mindset, my business and helping people, supporting the youth and the people who need it most, love, and so on, and so on."
And that's it. That's basically the things I wrote in my manifesto, there are some more things, but this is like the core of it. And so, if you also wrote some themes or areas in your life, you can also write more things for every theme in the area. You can, for example, write "in my relationships, I want...." or "In relationships, it is important to me that..." and you can do the same for your job, for example, "in my job, I want that..." or "I want to commit to ...".
So it really, really depends on what is important to you and how you want to create this manifesto. You can use quotes. You can use commitments you want to make, you can draw, you can write, you can even make a video or make it a recording. It's important that it feels good to you. You are free to do it in a way that feels good to you. It needs to feel empowering and good. You can make it as long or as short as you want to just know yourself in it. But when it's shorter in a way, it's easier to reread it, or to remember. Mine is actually pretty long. But if you want to really use it in such a way that you can read it every day, maybe it shouldn't be a whole book, of course.
And also, I once made a very short list of all the things that are important to me. And when I needed to make a decision, I looked at it, and I just checked "Is my decision in alignment with what's important to me? or with what makes me happy?" So that even was actually if I think about it, also a small manifesto, or at least how I look at a personal manifesto.
And also be honest with yourself, if you are someone who already puts yourself first often, or that's not a problem for you, maybe your focus in your manifesto might also be on taking others into account. But if you know you're taking others often into account, and you forget yourself a lot, then also write accordingly. So you really take yourself into account and you really take care of yourself. So this is also a great exercise for getting to know yourself better.
It does not need to be perfect. Just try it and see how it feels. And also, you can play with it once you have written your manifesto, right. If you are in a relationship, you could even ask your partner to do the same and read each other's manifestos to each other and put it next to each other. Like it's really something deep, where we can learn from one another. You can also write a manifesto as a couple or as a family.
If you're interested in making your own personal manifesto, you can subscribe here to receive the guideline. So it's just the six points that I explained to you right now but then written down so maybe it's easier for you if you're visual or you can't remember everything that I just said. But again, please make it in a way that feels good to you. Don't take this as like a rule or like okay, it needs to be like this. No! Play with it. And let me know how it went for you.
Have a lovely week.
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Much love!
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