I don’t think a lot of people ever realize this but we live in a society where comparison happens so much that we don’t even realize we are doing it and suddenly we lose ourselves trying to be everyone else. It happens, and it’s happened to me. I, fortunately realized it much sooner and made changes to my life because I firmly believe we were all made to live our lives, not live up to trends, what everyone is into, or the opinions of others.
If you haven’t even realized that you are not living your life, I’ll give you a couple of questions I found that helped me realize this and to start living my whole life.
Are you happy with what you are doing?
Are you finding satisfaction with how your life is built or are you left wanting more?
Is this what you envisioned your life looking like?
Those are a few questions I asked myself and they helped me. I was 20, and all my friends loved to party, and I loved my friends so I did go out and party with them. I used to be so drained that I’d need like 2 days to recharge. I am in no way saying partying is wrong, or whatever, I’m just talking about how it made me feel. I remember we had booked a hotel and we were about to have a rich kids party with all the drinks and smoking and all that, and like they knew I wasn’t much of any of that but we were all convinced that we’d all have fun, until the party happened. I was so drained in the middle of it and all I could think about was how the bed that all my drunk friends were jumping or sitting on looked so good to lie down, and it was like 10pm. I went out to the balcony and stared out into the city, and I could breathe, I could smile, and I found myself so much happier in those two minutes of city staring than I did in a room of my friends and loud music. I realized I had another way to enjoy my Saturday evenings, and partying every Saturday wasn’t it. I really love dancing, but I enjoy going to live shows, concerts, eating out, new places, reading and all that too, so I can’t spend all of my life partying because it’s not the only thing I want to do.
It only took me a moment to realize this wasn’t the life I wanted, and a couple of months to turn it around and my friends know my boundaries now. They don’t ask me to party with them every two days, but they always leave the door open because I enjoy hanging out with them, as well as I love dancing. And somehow, in the middle of this mess I call my life, I’ve found my life, and I still find it everyday.
So, today, just think of everything you spend your time doing and think about how it makes you feel? Think about how it ties into the things you like, or how you envision your life, and somewhere between those questions, the answer of whether you’re living your life will lie. Someone once said, you are either building your life, or helping someone else build theirs. Wouldn't it be a shame if you aren’t building your own house?
Lastly, a quote that I always think about all the time; treat your life like a house. Everything you do is building it. Everything you do is like a brick, cement, or wood. At the end of your life, you’ll have to live inside your house. If you were intentionally building your house, the brick will be perfectly laid and you’ll have a great house to live in, if you didn’t do anything intentionally to build your house, you’ll have to live in a house that’s built to fall apart. So, are you living your life?
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