- Asking yourself "what you’re doing with your life?"
Fair question…considering the limited amount of time we have on this planet. If you consider that time is the one commodity we can’t get/buy more of…how do you want to spend it?? No matter how rich, how handsome, how powerful you are…we all have a limited amount of time, some more, some less. A day wasted on doing what you don’t love, is a day wasted entirely. Use that as a learning lesson to pursue what you really want to do in life. I have 2 exercises for you to try. Easy and simple:
1st exercise: Imagine a scale in front of you. On one side, write down a list of all the things you want in life (money, cars, women, apts, friends, materialistic things, etc) Now, on the other side, write down a list of all the things you need to survive (food, shelter, money, etc) By doing this you may realize something…there’s a great disparity in what we want vs what we need…and what we think we NEED. Personally I was always plagued by the idea of a number. A financial number that I wanted to beat every year. This was my personal measure of success…could I out do my previous year? After having stepped away from really making any money the last year, I realized something. What I want and what I need are two totally different things. What I started to do, was reframe that same question you have been asking yourself. Instead of asking myself "what I was doing with my life?," I started asking myself "what I wanted to do with my life?" A small shift, however it started opening doors to other possibilities. What I want to do????? Oh shit: Travel the world, learn massage, live in a camper van, practice Spanish, build a treehouse village, learn small engine repair, get my wilderness EMT certificate, become a pilot, etc. The list goes on. Then I asked myself an equally important question to the first…"What am I doing in life right now that’s getting me closer to any of those things?” Nothing. I was doing nothing to get closer to those goals. So I left Bray and started on my adventure. Working off a modest payout and savings, I am crossing things off that evolving list. I stopped drinking (it wasn’t servicing me anymore) and have gone vegetarian. Studied Thai Massage for a month last summer in North Adams Mass, spent time on a horse whisperer farm, started seeing a naturopath and am working on my own mental and physical health, moved out to Boulder to be closer to my mom and sister, joined a rock climbing gym, spent 10 days in a silent retreat, signed up for a treehouse building workshop in Vermont, attended an RV show in Denver this weekend, am seeking an apprenticeship at a mechanic shop in town…oh, and had my 3rd pilot training lesson yesterday (I’ve successfully taxi’d and taken off in a Cessna 172 by myself.) Life is sooooooo fucking short, like, insanely short. We blinked and are now in our 30’s…we’re going to blink again and wake up in our 40’s. The time is now, to live now. Yesterday can’t be changed and tomorrow doesn’t exist. "Live in the present” as they say…and enjoy every moment of it.
2nd exercise: Sitting alone or with a friend, give each other about 20 min or so to do this exercise. Ask yourself, if you could wake up tomorrow and do ANYTHING, be ANYWHERE…without the limitations of time/money/travel etc…what would you do. In excruciating detail take yourself through the day. What time do you wake up, where do you wake up, are you alone, what city, are you in a bed, on a boat, a plane, a treehouse, what does it smell like, whats the temperature, who are you with, what do you do, what do you see, what do you feel like, what are you wearing, etc etc etc…do this entire day until you go to sleep. Now start your life and get as close to that as possible. Take your time, forgive yourself, make mistakes, fail, retry, learn, move forward, fail again, fail better, succeed...
I’d lastly like to say this. We spend so much of our time concerned with the thoughts and judgements of others. Our peers, our parents, our friends, and so on. For what? Who cares? No one is doing it better than the other. In my opinion, true success isn’t measured with a monetary yard stick, rather the peace you find within. The stripping of your perceived identity and labels…and contentment in just, being. I received a lot of judgment from a lot of people when I left my “perfect” life…and to very honest, I could never look back. Life has finally begun.
Now there are a lot of practical questions that come up when you make a concerted effort to live free…for instance, how do you make money? We can talk all about that as well. But the short answer is that I have had to take a few jobs this year to support myself. I’m not “making money” but I am coming out more even…all while trying to figure out next steps in automating income. To be discussed if you’d like. Life doesn’t just happen, manifesting your future isn’t just wishing things were different…it’s making things different. Not just going with the flow, but also being the flow. We are constantly evolving, changing, decaying…growing, and dying. That is the law of nature…and that is ok. No one is protecting you on a GOD level. GOD isn’t in the sky looking down and judging/protecting us. GOD is humility, love, compassion, kindness, generosity…live like this and you will live well.
Dude, I hope this ramble helps…I got carried away and just started writing from the heart. It’s all out of love and wanting to see the world find their purpose…something I also work on daily. But damn man…my heart is fuller than ever, body and mind aligned like never before, and I am attracting all of the things I’ve ever wanted to do in life.
xx