A serious life question:
What are you doing to change your life from something that happens to you into the life you, personally, desire?
(note: I say serious, but if you say “I download more porn” and that’s exactly what you want in life… well, bully for you. :D )
now we’re busy making all our busy plans
on foundations built to last
but nothing fades as fast as the future
and nothing clings like the past, until we can see
on foundations built to last
but nothing fades as fast as the future
and nothing clings like the past, until we can see
more than this
more than this
so much more than this
there is something out there
more than this
it’s coming through
I started doing this as a teenager after too many deaths, my younger brother’s serious cardiac arrest, and the realization that life is often much shorter then we anticipate: living. Not just going through the day but being happy about small things, big things, seeing friends, the sun, a smile. A big part of living is doing what I want (within reason) instead of putting it off. Sky diving, getting scuba certified, traveling, learning new things (karate, rock climbing), traveling more, and making possible the things I want to do. Another part of living (for me) is volunteering.
My theme song for life is Live Like You Were Dying by Tim McGraw. I may not be where I want to be professionally, but I am pretty happy with my life :)
Awesome. :)
Professional life is only one portion of a person’s existence – less than a third, for the typical 9-to-5er.
I have a number of theme songs, but “Shine” by Henry Rollins and “Mistake” by Fiona Apple are pretty important to me.
That is true about professional life – I would just like to (at some point) end up in my field :)
Good question and it is something I am seriously trying to do now.
It’s hard sometimes. I don’t have any answers yet. Hopefully I will figure it out sooner rather than later.
my life is not something that happens to me. it is, for the most part, the life i have desired and worked very hard to achieve. there are always glitches and slow downs and chaos and sometimes confusion, but i can truly say i love my life (:
This is always a tough thing for people to do. Life is so big, it’s hard to take the reins and do anything about it. It’s so much easier just to be a victim and let life happen.
That being said, I’m trying. Trying to find a new job, find a new place to live. Be it in DC, or not (hopefully not), I want out of my current rut.
I take pleasure in the small things. A good cup of Chai, a beautiful moon or sunny day. Also I read a lot. I am working on making my life more controllable at the moment..not putting off things I want and standing up for myself more.
I’m moving to Detroit!
because while some people get a haircut when they want a change, I go back to school, get a new job, and move across the state.
was talking to a friend about this the other day, and he was saying that he tries to do something every day that makes him hate himself less. i can totally relate to that.
mostly, though, i keep doing what i’ve always done: poke around in my head and rearrange with the contents over and over, all the time, in an ongoing attempt to refine my approaches to stuff. which i’m sure is something that you can relate to.
more specifically, i try to learn more stuff and get better at stuff. this includes stockpiling and sorting and analyzing and crossreferencing and so on and so on in the general direction of all information gathered, all of which is considered as potentially useful. it includes the martial arts stuff. it includes dealing with an assortment of people (myself and others) and having the outcomes more completely resemble what i’d like them to be. et cetera ad infinitum, i suppose, but those are the things that spring to mind offhand.
have you an answer as well?
More or less. I was looking for the inspiration of others to see if it would help me, as well.
Currently, I am in the process of starting a business for myself. Also, I am looking for new day-job employment. I am spending more time with my friends, which (while slowing down the other two processes) has been neglected in search of my other goal, that being college. Now that I have graduated, I can temporarily put that other goal behind me in pursuit of other things.
Creatively speaking, though I am constantly working on something new, I still feel like the things I truly want to say are lying dormant, and I am still okay with that, because they are -present-. I think they will present themselves once I’ve reached a critical mass of thought, perhaps. IE I can’t access the really neat spells until level 5. *giggle*
well there are the little day to day things I try to do to improve one’s life…..finding joy in the little things, enjoying my work more then I probably should, trying to spend more time with my brother’s kids, getting out of the house more.
But I guess the biggest change I’m making will hopefully happen by the end of the month: my gastric bypass. So far what I’ve read, heard and witnessed first hand have all given me a near-euphoric high about this; true there’s a chance things could go bad, but isn’t that what life is?
Going back to school. Whenever I think of sign language, or watch people signing, or catch myself fingerspelling a word I didn’t even realize that I was thinking about – I ache for it. So I’ve started finding a way I can do it again. And this time, with people I’ll be able to interact with outside of class as well.
I also have a game plan for doing yoga in the mornings again. It made me feel so much more balanced and relaxed before I started my day, and I really miss that.
I’ve also started thinking about other places that I would like to live – but I haven’t decided how far I want to go on that. I had considered a new state, but I think a new town might fit the bill just fine.
I’m also online, trying to start dating again – or at the very least meeting new people.
I would have to say that my life has been completely transformed by my conversion to Christianity. Beforehand I wondered around my small bit of dirt on this planet not having any kind of real plan or idea what I was doing. For the most part I was miserable, self-loathing and just plain cranky.
Now I truly enjoy my life, one day at a time. Each day presents gifts, opportunities and trials. My beliefs and faith get me through every trial and in hindsight I’ve been thankful for what I have been given freely. I would have to say that I find joy in every day and in every circumstance, sometimes it’s really difficult and other days it’s simple to find that joy.
I continue to pray, study and seek His will in all that I do… Believe me, I’m not always successful and I muck things up, but eventually I learn my lesson and go on from there.
That is what I personally desire and has drastically and completely changed my life.
While I definitely see the positive benefit for enjoying each day for what it is, and trying to find the blessings and advantages to daily life, what do you do to accomplish greater goals in your life?
For some people, their only set goals are to live a happy daily life, so I don’t want to sound like I’m probing for something I think every person -must- have.
That said, most of us either have some longterm goals in mind, or some nebulous dreams and wishes that haven’t yet been made concrete.
For instance, if someone really wanted to write something great and eternal one day, they might sign up for classes or tour the world in search of experience. If someone really wanted to be a more “at home” father, they might be in search of a job they can telecommute from.
The job I took at National Tech Team was something I went into because A) Dan and Scott invited me to do so, and B) I figured I’d be good at it. It didn’t fit in with any particular goals, other than to make some money and do techy things. I let the wind breeze me into it.
On the other hand, the film projects I work on these days (when I’m not at my current paying gig) require a lot of effort to get going, but are creatively validating for me. So I’m trying to find ways to make money doing more creative work, but I’ve a long way to go.
So, what about you? Does this help in describing what I’d like to know about?