Today’s prompt:
Come Alive by Jonathan Mead Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you had one week left to live, would you still be doing what you’re doing now? In what areas of your life are you preparing to live? Take them off your To Do list and add them to a To Stop list. Resolve to only do what makes you come alive.
Bonus: How can your goals improve the present and not keep you in a perpetual “always something better” spiral?
(Author: Jonathan Mead)
Over the last 10 years I have — gradually — started to do less and less of those things I saw as obligations, requirements, prudent, smart, etc. This doesn’t mean I have become a wastrel, rather that I finally started doing those things that most appealed, and benefitted me.
Does this make me sound selfish? I hope not. I still help others as much as I can, for fee and also for free. I try to give back to my community as much as I can, even when I am not feeling much self-confidence personally. I consider this selective thought as self-preservation rather than selfishness. I am not trying to take everything for myself, but rather peel away the encumbrances that accrete on our lives over time.
There are several, earthy phrases that sum up this process. “Life is too short to work with (stupid, unhappy, insecure, mean, selfish) people.” I would add that life is too short to live someone else’s life. You can’t go about pleasing everyone else. It will use you up before you ever accomplish anything for yourself.
So, not many things on my To Stop list. I only wish I had know about the concept much earlier in life.
#Trust30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that encourages you to look within and trust yourself. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on your now, and to create direction for your future. 30 prompts from inspiring thought-leaders will guide you on your writing.