Living Life To The Fullest
If you Google "Live Life to the Fullest", there are 62,200,000 responses. But I found one I really, really like:
To live life to the fullest means facing your fears with bravery, an open mind, and a lack of prejudice. It means making the most of what you have and never settling for less than the life you are capable of living. It means being truly alive and awake to life and not asleep in life's waiting room.
I often question whether I am really living life or just going through the motions. I think at this stage of my life, I am somewhere between "stuck in a rut" and "Oh my gosh, I have to get more stuff done before it's too late"! Troy and I have had a few discussions lately about what the next chapter of our life will be. We don't want to be asleep in life's waiting room! We need to be truly alive! But we are always so consumed with getting the lawn mowed, the laundry done, and the house cleaned on weekends when we have days off, that we forget to live. I mean really live.
A few things have happened lately that make me more aware of the fragility of life. One of those things is just so overwhelmingly sad. A coworker who is roughly the same age as me is going through a really hard time right now. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis isn't good. This has hit me and Troy both very hard. We have known them for almost 30 years, and care deeply about them. I realize that all I can do for her and her husband is pray, and I also realize that prayer is huge, and every prayer is heard. But the pure feeling of helplessness is awful. He was a smoker. Troy is a smoker. We are the same ages. We are all very hard workers. You can't help but see similarities. So this has opened our eyes quite a bit.
So how does one go from work, work, work, to getting into the habit of relaxing, letting go, being more "in the moment"? Yes, I Googled that, too! I found this great quote by Steve Jobs:
"Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs
Basically, I think this tells us to listen to Linda & Troy, to do what Linda & Troy really want to do. I have already taken the first steps to lead a healthier life, and I've seen results. I feel so much better, actually happier. Now, what's next? Here's some thoughts:
Set Goals--Troy is actually great at this
Live consciously--Stop Sleepwalking through life! Live in the moment!
Make a List of things to do--Things we WANT to do, not HAVE to do!
Be positive--Nobody succeeds through negativity!
Everything doesn't have to be perfect--Ok, I will work on this. (OCD much?)
Embrace friendship with happy, positive people!
Learn that it's not all about work---this will be a tough one for both of us!
I don't know how this will all work out, but I do know that we need to take it seriously. And we need to make some changes. Big changes maybe. I don't want regrets. I always say that I won't have regrets when my parents are gone because I spend time with them, and I help them when I'm needed. But what about me? I don't want regrets when I am on my way out of this world either! My favorite saying is framed and hanging in my house. It is also listed on my Facebook profile and many other places. THIS is how I want to live life from now on....
To live life to the fullest means facing your fears with bravery, an open mind, and a lack of prejudice. It means making the most of what you have and never settling for less than the life you are capable of living. It means being truly alive and awake to life and not asleep in life's waiting room.
I often question whether I am really living life or just going through the motions. I think at this stage of my life, I am somewhere between "stuck in a rut" and "Oh my gosh, I have to get more stuff done before it's too late"! Troy and I have had a few discussions lately about what the next chapter of our life will be. We don't want to be asleep in life's waiting room! We need to be truly alive! But we are always so consumed with getting the lawn mowed, the laundry done, and the house cleaned on weekends when we have days off, that we forget to live. I mean really live.
A few things have happened lately that make me more aware of the fragility of life. One of those things is just so overwhelmingly sad. A coworker who is roughly the same age as me is going through a really hard time right now. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis isn't good. This has hit me and Troy both very hard. We have known them for almost 30 years, and care deeply about them. I realize that all I can do for her and her husband is pray, and I also realize that prayer is huge, and every prayer is heard. But the pure feeling of helplessness is awful. He was a smoker. Troy is a smoker. We are the same ages. We are all very hard workers. You can't help but see similarities. So this has opened our eyes quite a bit.
So how does one go from work, work, work, to getting into the habit of relaxing, letting go, being more "in the moment"? Yes, I Googled that, too! I found this great quote by Steve Jobs:
"Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs
Basically, I think this tells us to listen to Linda & Troy, to do what Linda & Troy really want to do. I have already taken the first steps to lead a healthier life, and I've seen results. I feel so much better, actually happier. Now, what's next? Here's some thoughts:
Set Goals--Troy is actually great at this
Live consciously--Stop Sleepwalking through life! Live in the moment!
Make a List of things to do--Things we WANT to do, not HAVE to do!
Be positive--Nobody succeeds through negativity!
Everything doesn't have to be perfect--Ok, I will work on this. (OCD much?)
Embrace friendship with happy, positive people!
Learn that it's not all about work---this will be a tough one for both of us!
I don't know how this will all work out, but I do know that we need to take it seriously. And we need to make some changes. Big changes maybe. I don't want regrets. I always say that I won't have regrets when my parents are gone because I spend time with them, and I help them when I'm needed. But what about me? I don't want regrets when I am on my way out of this world either! My favorite saying is framed and hanging in my house. It is also listed on my Facebook profile and many other places. THIS is how I want to live life from now on....
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