A few days ago I realized that I was completely happy with my life. I was working in a job I enjoyed, around people I love and admire, making decent money. I have a beautiful, understanding and amazing wife with a kid equally as amazing. I live in an age where I can create anything I like with almost the ease to which I can think it up. I possess the equivalent of two college degrees and can easily remember 99% of what I’ve learned. I have a budding writing career that, while not successful in the monetary sense (which I hope to change VERY soon), nonetheless gives me a great sense of satisfaction.
I am living my life. My life is NOT being lived for me.
Overall, life is not hard. I would say that the complications people bring into their lives make it hard. For example, I find that the more dramatic people I bring into my life, the harder it gets to sift through the bullshit to the raw data of life. So, to remedy this, you get rid of those people. Quick, simple, and everyone’s happy. Well, everyone except those who get dropped from your life for being a drain on your sanity and resources. But, they’re not really people, so much as entities that need to be contained.
Here’s the deal and this is just my opinion. Take it for what it is.
Life does not care.
Life will not care when you die. Live your life now, in the moment, this very one and give no care for the future. Believe me, it will take care of itself. If you’re in a shitty relationship, end it and salvage your life and your dignity. If you’re in a dead-end job, get a better one or one with less responsibilities for the same pay (they do exist.) Just start living your life according to your own priorities, not what some commercial or job would have you believe they should be. Forget everyone else.
Last night, someone said to me that things I say sometimes blur the lines. Well, the reasons for that is those lines don’t exist to me. These are YOUR lines, not mine. I live by a code of conduct that is very simple, and very easy to live by.
1. Harm no one unless absolutely necessary, and in self-defense. But if I have to strike, be overwhelming.
2. Bend to no one’s will who has an argument inferior to my own, but respectfully and objectively consider everyone’s points of view that are worthy of consideration.
3. Prepare to die at any moment, thus leaving nothing unsaid or undone. If you dream it, do it. You have NO excuses. I would rather have a life of “oh well”, than a life of “what if”.
4. When in doubt, err on the side of the fleshy and the aesthetic over the logical and rational. This makes sure that your experiences in life are rich and filled with their own value.
5. There is no facet of life that can’t be made richer and more easily navigable by coffee and conversation.
6. And the most important one; Never Stop Growing and Learning. When you stop growing, you start dying.
That’s it. Seriously. You have the resources of thousands of years at your disposal, no one has an excuse to be doing anything other than living their life by their own terms.
Love everyone who will accept your love. Ignore anyone otherwise. Write a book. Learn a language. Read a comic. Attend a seminar. Call your mother. Reach out to an old friend. Go out into the world and make new friends. Have a one-night stand. Say “fuck” a lot. When you hug someone, hold the hug for at least 10 seconds longer. When you make love, make love with your soul. Allow nothing positive in this life to escape your notice. Play a video game. Write Arrow fan fiction. Help someone you don’t know for no reason. Talk to a veteran. Start a website.
Do it NOW. Don’t wait. Life is not hard if you cut out the unessential to make room for the luminous.
Barring a senseless attack of violence or a freak accident, I am living my life the way I want to and will probably live for a while. If I should die tomorrow, would I have regrets? Absolutely. To say otherwise would be unreflective. But, to have no regrets means you have not lived. It means you didn’t grow because you didn’t make mistakes. It means that you never loved something enough to mourn its absence.
You have within you the power of greatness. I know you do. Because, so do I. We all do. Think of us as real life Jedi. Some of us aren’t Force-sensitive and do nothing with our lives, content with the 9-5 drudgery of Tatooine moisture farmers. Some of us turn to the Dark Side and run for president. But, some of us embrace the Force within us and try to change the galaxy, even if it’s far, far away. (Forgive my geekiness, I couldn’t help myself)
I have a small group of friends, and we’ve kind of dubbed ourselves “Team Dragonborn.” (Again, geekiness , “Dragonborn” is referencing the Elder Scrolls video game series.) Team Dragonborn is essentially a group of people whose sole purpose is to motivate each other to greatness. We’re a team. When one of us succeed, we ALL succeed. We dedicate ourselves to awakening not only the power within ourselves, but in each other.
Find your Team Dragonborn. Or if you’re a team of one, that’s fine, too. But, 100 years is too short a time to enjoy. Don’t waste a second of it living a life that’s less than you deserve. Find others who share your vision and pursue it together!
So get up. Right now! (Well, finish reading this first.) Get up and do something that moves you closer to your goals. If you don’t have goals, make some and attack them. Take action, take MASSIVE action to bring you to your goals.
Make your life a history, not a dimly imagined fairy tale! As Anthony Robbins would say, “The only thing keeping us from the things we want, are the stories we tell ourselves as to why we can’t have them.”
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This post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
wow so inspiring dear! keep more please