It really is the
Life in our years that will count when it is all said and done. “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's
the life in your years ~ Abraham Lincoln” so I ask you, what are you
doing now to leave you legacy? Are you living, or are you just existing, and
you not dead yet? I will tell ya, I may not be rich financially; however, I do
live a very full and rich life. I hope that when I am around others that my
attitude in life, and my love of life, as well as my outlook on life and the
future would be contagious to my family, friends, and anyone who comes around
me. I choose to get every bit of living out of my years, and I do not and I will
not allow my years to take my life out of me. I love Acts
20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the
race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me the task of testifying
to the gospel of God's grace.
Life is for
living, not just existing. As our days are filled with various, mundane
obligations, it’s easy to forget to enjoy life. As crazy as it seems many of us
don’t allow ourselves the opportunity to laugh as much as we should and partake
in the simple things we enjoy doing; but when it’s all said and done, do you
want to have gone through life coasting along fulfilling all major obligations,
but forgetting to simply breathe and enjoy life? From our jobs, that give us a
headache at the mere thought of them, to our less than meaningful
relationships, some of us have allowed mediocrity to be the overall theme of
our lives. Sure you may have to take a pay cut to do what you really want; but
at least you will be happier and more fulfilled. And so what if your
relationships are filled with a variety of associates; but when it comes to
healthy relationships, quantity always takes precedence over quality. As you
reflect over how you want to live your life, consider these things daily to
ensure that you are living and not just existing. After all, none of us were
put on earth simply to take up space. Live as if you
were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever'—Gandhi
I have a personal
motto, a creed per say, just like the great country song, I live my life every
day as if I were dying. We are not guaranteed
tomorrow, so I live like every day is my last day on earth. Living vs.
Existing Clearly, there is a big difference
between merely existing and actually living. Do you feel like you are stuck in
the same old daily grind, like you would like to break out of that shell and
start living? If you were to have the perfect adventure to spice up your life, what would it be
like? Existing to me is just getting done what needs to get done. You can still
do those things and LIVE, if you feel the greater purpose that you have to make
the effort to imbue into those things. If what you do everyday in and out,
start and end then start again, over and over is not advancing you, then you NEED A CHANGE... you need
to be stepping closer to something. And you have to really KNOW IT. Reassuring
yourself constantly means you don't believe it. You need a genuine prospect.
You need a GOAL, and don’t be a goal setter, be a goal getter, it’s needs to be
something more than you already have and you have to first find out what it
takes to get there, and then you have to make work your friend. This is the
key. Something that you MAKE, not just experience, is what has the strongest
lasting effect on people. A little bit of suffering goes a long way. That way,
no matter how mundane or boring any individual day may seem, it adds up. Insecurity
and lack of confidence in whatever that goal may be can make anyone indifferent
and complacent in the long run. Just feeling like a responsible adult, in my
opinion, is not enough to keep anyone happy for long. Life shouldn't stop
moving once you've settled into the typical adult responsibilities. Just because
you provide for your kids, love your
spouse, and are doing well on paying off your house doesn't mean that you
shouldn't still want to do more with your life. It's not like you are breaking
your commitment with those things, not at all. You have to realize that life
WILL allow you to LIVE and be excited and have new prospects. There are people out there who are just
so excited about life, no matter what is going on, THEY can make it interesting
for themselves and others. I LOVE these kinds of people, being around them is
very replenishing for me. I think their secret is not that they are some
superior beings with limitless energy and talents and perceptions. I have come
to see that they key to these kinds of people is that they are so open to let
inspiration come to them. They let it all in and see the inspiring qualities in
so many things around them. It’s not quite WHO you are, but what you allow
yourself to experience. You have to relax and let stuff cut through the
cynicism that we all eventually develop.
There's also another state besides existing and living, it's called surviving. When you
feel like you're just surviving, it's terrible. I think we've all been at
points in our lives that we've literally had to try to wait it out. Maybe
something tragic happened and we're just hanging on until we can figure out how to get over it. Or maybe
we've been in a bad place and we spend all our energy trying to keep ourselves from falling into that position again. Recently, I had a freind tell me that she was somewhere
in between existing and surviving? I was somewhat perplexed? However, I admired her honesty and her ability to get in touch with her inner child. She told me that her survival mode was constantly in
overdrive because she was battling clinical depression that was attached with an on and off substance abuse problem with perscription drugs and alcohol. In life, there are some psychological issues revolving around a
fear of going without. She told me that she is always scrambling to get away from that
place she actually already left but the fact hasn't kicked into her head yet. Maybe
that makes sense only to me, as I do understand what she is saying, she was reaching out for help, and I have happly extended my hand to her. What I found interesting is the fact that she is willing to bargin with her happiness to simply exist. She told me that she would take existing over surviving any day and that she was sick of feeling like everything is a
struggle when she knew it doesn't have to be. I
think the way you live your life is defined by the circumstances you've gone
through or still are. To be honest, I have savored all three of the above;
survive, live, or exist and all three of them have left their mark on me. The
question I ask myself is if I am enjoying it? To be honest, I have been guilty of just killing
time, always looking for a quick fix or that fast forward button that'd push my life to euphoria, even though things are quite different today. Yes, I have made some mistakes, also known as bad choices. I did good
and bad deeds, and both kept me away from doing things I could have or should've done. I denied myself of my own existence. That denial part, it has some remnants
left inside of me and I do sometimes like to think of what and how I would have done things different? However, I have reached iternal happiness, and I have found that my happiness is enteral, not external. It has nothing to do with how much money I have made, how big my house is, what kind of car I drive, or the clothes I ware, and trust me I like nice things. However, my happiness has boiled down to my legecy and what I have gave back to sociaty and God, for realizing just how blessed I am, as I truly am "A Poor Rich Man".
The good part, I am slowly getting over it. Coming back to the topic, existence
is merely being present there physically, doing what you're told and keeping
your mouth shut. There was a time that is what I was exactly doing. I thought
that there was no point in fighting with the odds so there I was, sitting in the corner and
getting kicked like I was the guy who robbed the world of its wealth. Did it
help? Obviously no, it did more harm than good. Now I have my chin up and I
don't see new problems as something that'd make me put a full stop at life and
ultimately let every one around me suffer because of it. While living life a little
differently with an overwhelming amount of optimism. I make sure that it doesn't make me insensitive
or numb to the pain because you got to feel to make it go away.
Do you ever just go through the day
and feel as if you can’t change your life for the better? Everything has been
decided for you and you have no choices in what you do, wear or say? Some days
can feel like that, but have too many in a row and you just might be drifting
aimlessly through life. Then there are those people who get
excited when they wake up in the morning. They have things they look
forward to and they don’t know what is going to happen to them in the future.
These people don’t merely exist, they’re full of life. I
think the biggest distinction between living and existing comes from how much
control you have over life decisions. Where do you see control coming from? In
general, someone who exists feels as if everything is outside of their control
while someone living knows they determine the
path their life takes. Emotions have a
big role to play in this. Someone who exists lets emotions such as fear and
anger dictate what they can and can’t do. Someone who is living understands
those emotions, controls them and doesn’t let them interfere with their
decisions. Someone who exists would stay in the same dead-end job for years
despite being unsatisfied and unhappy. Their fears have trapped them and they
have no plans of getting out. They’ve lost hope and just mindlessly go through
the day in order to maintain the status quo. But it goes much further than
a job and paycheck. Someone who lets their fears control them won’t take other
actions that would improve their life. They stay in relationships they don’t like,
don’t do things on their bucket list and always put their dreams
on hold. People who simply exist do the same boring routine every day even
though they don’t really like it. They don’t take any chances on improving
their life just so they can maintain their current comfortable lifestyle. This
is because they are unable to take control of their decisions. So how would you
even know if you’re someone who exists or lives?
Steve
Jobs did something that could provide some guidance. Apparently he used to wake
up each morning, look at himself in the mirror and ask himself the same
question, “If I was to die today, would I do what I am about to do?” If his
answer was no too many days in a row, he would make a change. I think this is a
good starting point for figuring out if you’re just settling for mediocrity. If
you’re not getting excited or happy most days with what you’re going to do, you
need to take action and change something. This goes for every area of your
life. Steve Jobs’ attitude is how I would describe someone who is living. Rememebr its our attitudes, that will raise our altitudes. I'm not content with doing a routine simply because I did it the day before. I am fully aware that you
continually have to find something that is meaningful for you and makes you
happy.
Otherwise you stop getting up in the morning because you want to and you start
getting up because it’s obligatory. So I challenge you to start asking yourself the same question
that Steve Jobs asked. If you find yourself saying no to the question too
often, you know that you need to make a change. Once you know what you want to
change, you’ll have to confront those fears
holding you back
and remind yourself that a change is necessary. I realize this can be a somewhat scary
process; I went through something similar. Many years ago I had a job that I clearly hated. It was horrible, so after a years of work at this place, I realized I had
started going there only because of habit and need, and not because I liked the work
itself. I knew I needed a change so I quit to run for Mayor in my town of Sandy Springs, Georgia. I did not searched for a new job before I
left, so didn’t have anything lined up right away, however, I was not worried, and I remember walking out of this place, I had felt like a house had been lifted off my shoulders.. It was kind of scary at
first, but I knew leaving that company was the right thing to do. Now, several years later, I’m
still glad I made the decision and my life has taken off in the direction that I have always wanted it too. In the end, we need to be the ones making the
decisions for our life. Nothing should tell you what to do, including your fears
and doubts. If you haven’t already, you need to take back control and make life
meaningful for yourself again. I know it can be easy to get stuck doing
something because it is comfortable and has become habitual. I’ve been in that
situation before. We all have battled with it, if you consider that you asked
yourself the same question every morning. And if you could get stuck
in a rut doing something you don’t like, because anyone can. So I ask you? Do you think you are
living or existing? Are there things you’ve become comfortable with and need to
make changes? Now this brings us back to the beginning of this blog, “It is not
the years in our life that will count, it will be the life that we choose to live,
with the years that we are blessed to have" ~ Donnie Bolena
