In a desperate effort to gain some weird form of validation, I stole an idea for a blog post and begged my readers to ask me a question. And they did. The buggers. Now I have to answer them.
Question 7: Hans adopts the “complete this sentence” approach and gives me the opening line of “If one life is all you get, then:” which is a bit of a broad sweeping statement but, hey that’s never stopped me in the past.
If one life is all you get, then you’d better live it to the full!
That’s what everyone thinks, right? You’ve only one life, so why waste it doing menial things like.. ohh I dunno, washing the car, brushing your hair and so on. After all, if I spend a month of my lifetime washing under my arms then that’s a month lost!!
Nonsense of course, and as we pry deeper we realise that the question isn’t about WHAT you do with your life but HOW you do it.
It’s easy to set goals, make lists of things to do, places to see, experiences to seek, but none of that really matters if you aren’t happy with yourself, first and foremost.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all preachy on you, suffice to say that it took me many years of my life to be happy with who I am, and HOW I am, and whilst there are still aspects of my life I would like to improve, I’m happy enough in myself to know that there is always time. And let’s be honest, if anything was REALLY upsetting me then I’d have done something about it already, right?
So, how do I live my life?
This is going to sound twee as hell but I really do try and live one moment at a time. That way I can pause, consider the moment (and I’m largely talking about negative moments here, the positive ones, quite rightly, skip by far too quickly), and then decide what to do, or more importantly, how to *be* in that moment.
Am I getting annoyed at someone because of what they are doing, or because of something I did? If it’s something I did I can correct it, if it’s something they are doing then the approach softens and I find myself becoming much more relaxed. The problem may not always go away but hey, it’s life, sometimes things don’t go well.
I’m not explaining this very well at all, I know, but it’s hard explain, especially as I always used to consider myself a pessimist, someone who always seemed to be moaning and complaining. That’s something I’ve worked hard to get away from and, whilst I still like a whinge now and then, it ain’t half as often as it used to be.
Living your life continually fighting and arguing and focusing on the negative just isn’t a life. Even if you don’t have ANY aspirations of travel, of new experiences, if YOU are happy with your life, truly happy, then make sure you do everything to keep that happiness. If you are unhappy with your life, ditch the five year plans, the dreams of tropical sun, and sort things out. Make your life as happy as you can. And yes, only YOU can do this, and no it’s not easy, not easy at all. Trust me though, it’s worth it.
Does any of that make sense? Am I talking out of my proverbial again? Is ANYONE STILL READING!??
What’s YOUR secret to living “one life”? (those who believe in reincarnation are invited to put forward their own take on things, seriously, it’d be fascinating).
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