Welcome to the Inspiring Women Series! My intention behind this series is for women of all backgrounds and stages of life to share what makes them love their life. My hope is that, through sharing this, you become inspired to live more of a life that you love. If you are interested in being featured in this series please send me an inquiry at danielle@danielleyeager.com and I will send you more information. I am incredibly excited about this series because I see so many women floating through life not feeling engaged, happy, or loving life. I want everyone to love the life they are living and live to the fullest!

The inspiring woman being featured this month is the lovely Ashleigh McGarity, here is her story:

Tell us how you are living a life you love? 

Oh my goodness, where should I start? I think the biggest way I’m living a life I love on my terms is that I am finally comfortable being truly, unabashedly ME.

I suppose I should back up for a moment. For the first 23ish years of my life, I hated myself. A complete loathing so pure that I couldn’t name a single strength of mine or thing I liked about myself; and even when others pointed out positive attributes or strengths, I couldn’t believe them – there were always reasons why I wasn’t enough in those areas, so surely they were just sugarcoating the truth to make me feel better. To complicate things even further, I have bipolar II disorder (with an extensive history of the depression piece!), and even when I wasn’t fully depressed, I felt defined by my illness. It was hard to see myself as anything other than a broken person.

With time, I started to get to know myself beyond the depression. Holy guacamole – there’s actually more to who I am than just some symptoms! I am a beautiful, passionate, and enthusiastic soul with creative tendencies who enjoys nothing more than encouraging those around me. I’m socially awkward and need lots of alone time to recharge, but I love deeply and my friends are like family. I’m intelligent and silly, with penchants for wordplay and making up (and butchering) jokes. I could surprisingly go on and on! Of course, I definitely still have my moments where old thoughts of self-hatred creep in and rain on my parade. This is especially true when I’m in the depths of a depression episode. But now I know that those thoughts are lies, and that even if they feel true in the moment, I don’t have to believe them.

So how am I living a life I love? As you can see, it all began with loving the life I have.

Now I’m fortunate enough to be engaged to a man even sillier than me, I have an amazing support system, and I’m pursuing starting my own passion-based business. I’m actually excited to see what life has in store for me (and what I have in store for – as Mary Oliver called it – my one wild and precious life!)

What hurdles came up on your way to getting there?

I think my most obvious hurdle has been having a serious mental illness to contend with. This is not to downplay the struggles others without depression have with learning to love themselves and their lives. It can definitely be a rough journey no matter your background! For my own story, though, having severe depression episodes punctuate my life even after coming to a place of loving life has proven to be quite the challenge.

What has been the biggest help in living a life you love?

Can I use my mental illness as my answer to this question as well? Maybe it sounds counterintuitive, but I wonder if I would have been as introspective or if I would have been so intentional about my journey if I didn’t have have this hurdle to contend with. Would I have become as strong? Would I be as passionate about life? Perhaps I would have, but I truly believe that dealing with severe depression (which has sometimes put my life at risk) has led me to have an intense appreciation for all there is in this world.

What is the best lesson you have learned along your journey?

That your struggles don’t have to define you.

What would you say to someone who feels like living a life they love is impossible?

It’s definitely not! I think it takes equal parts loving life as it is and striving for more. It’s a dialectic that can be hard to grasp for sure, but I think if you can love yourself where you are, it opens you up to be better able to change your circumstances.

How are you continuing to ensure you love your life every day?

I have a custom day planner I created for myself that combines traditional task/schedule planning with mental and physical health planning and tracking. It includes a place for gratitude and a spot for an intention for the day, and I think those two pieces alone help ensure I’m loving my life (although of course the productivity piece helps as well, since I’m a super driven person that thrives on getting things done). This isn’t really a glamorous response, but it’s a real glimpse into my life and how intentionality really helps me continue to love my life.

Ashleigh McGarity is the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Passion for Life, Love, and Health, a passion-based business devoted to providing a total self-love transformation for women who feel overwhelmed and helpless about their weight and self-image through education, hands-on activities, and mentoring. She knows from personal experience how painful these struggles can be and how seemingly impossible it can be to make a dent in them. But she’s found that change IS possible, with self-love as the most powerful vehicle for change. You can explore her writings at http://passionlifelovehealth.com.

I hope you enjoyed Ashleigh’s story of living beyond mental illness. Did you gain any insights from her story? If so, please share them in the comments and if you are looking to connect with other women going after their dreams join Ruth and I in the free facebook group Your Life. Your Way. 

Much love, Danielle