Your brain is kinda dumb. I mean, all it’s trying to do is keep you alive. It’s incredibly good at it. Food, shelter, sex…
That’s why the plethora of mental issues we’re struggling with as we try to navigate through what our brains consider to be unhealthy and complicated lifestyles.
Is the goal to survive? I’d like to think that our goal is to thrive. Survival is weak. Survival has become increasingly easy.
Or better yet. Think of it this way: do you want to be the hero of your own story? Your life’s story? You’d be surprised at how many people act as if they are the villains of their own stories, or a minor character. No. You can write your own story, and you better live a life that is worth writing about and worth listening to.
But let’s just say that you do just the work that is enough to survive. You call it a living. You compromise. You find comfort in strange addictions. You avoid mental conflict, exhausting yourself, or doing the right thing too often. You rationalize a lot of the ideas that are uncomfortable…
What are you going to feel like when it will be too late to change anything? When it’s almost over?
People waste years and years and then, on their deathbeds, they beg for moments.
Don’t be one of those people.
Live life on your terms, because you’re the one who has to die when your time comes.
Yes, your advice is sound – – – and I recommend it! Striving to live a life without regret is the reason my husband and I are happily retired, but constructively engaged in Montana, where he skis and fishes, and maintains a beautiful house and yard while I enjoy writing and cooking, entertaining and volunteering, and using my good china and beautiful silverware everyday! We are gratefully thriving, driving our ATV over countless mountain trails with wonderful adventurous friends, and living a life worth writing about. Being of sound mind, we are happily using up our children’s inheritance! It’s wonderful! ❤
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Nice thought👍
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Thank you.
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Reblogged this on Swooning Maruca.
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Yeah, that’s 2019 for me. I’m going to do everything I can to achieve what I want. And I’m going to have a blast whilst I try. No one is going to stop me. (Great piece, by the way!)
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Thank you, Wade.
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It took a cancer diagnosis to wake me up. I no longer say that I’m going to try this or that “someday.” If I want to try something, I do it now. Now cancer-free, life has never been so good! Great advice!
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I definitely want to thrive!
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This is true, survival isn’t enough. I think it just leads people down a road of unfulfillment.
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Love this!
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Thank you
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I’ve always loved this quote and tried to live by it. Great piece!
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Thank you.
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Good advice. I love Lamott’s words: “a big juicy creative life”.
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Reblogged this on Author S. L. Danielson and commented:
Regret is awful…I’ve suffered with it and am now trying to rectify my inactions.
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Love this!
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Thank you.
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I agree with this so much. I am substitute teaching now, but I just turned in a pilot script to a producer. I am waiting… waiting. And I am doing more than waiting. I am praying. I am deciding it WILL happen. I even pitched her a new idea. And she said to write the pitch. So I’m doing that. And I wrote a schedule for myself for my blog and my creative writing and my paid gigs to come through article writing. I am not waiting anymore!
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That’s great news, Andrea.
The thing is, you need to keep pushing. As long as you don’t give up, you can’t lose. You can’t beat someone who doesn’t give up.
And I think that if you give 100% all the time, things tend to work out.
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Survive – this has been somewhat of a goal I have had lately… Now, I realized that I have the wrong mindset. I must replace it with “thrive”.
Thanks.
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There’s a big difference between the two. Survival is weak. It’s the bare minimum, because otherwise you’d be dead.
Thriving, on the other hand, is about living your truth, being who you want to be, and going after all that you want.
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Going with the bare minimum ain’t a life worth living. That is why we must aim for a thriving existence.
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Thank you, I needed this. I’ve been knowing that I needed to get to work lately but I’ve been lagging. It seems that the days go so fast but I just need to change what I’m doing with them.
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My pleasure, Tiana.
I think we all know what we should do, yet…
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There is a huge difference between “Living” and “Existing” and it’s our choice how we want to spend our life
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Lovely message!
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Thank you!
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At 73 and progressing, I may feel the urge to write something of interest. At the time of this writing, there are no interesting stories. Great Blog.
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I disagree with you on your stating that you have “no interesting stories.” I am 78, and I continue to move as well…not so well as in the past, but I am moving. Last month I nearly wasn’t moving at all…near death…and therein lies a fascinating or interesting story. Life is a series of stories…big ones, little ones, and in-between. It is up to us to recognize them.
First of all, acknowledge the stories are there; second, find them. What you consider the most trivial thing can be made into an interesting story. Third is to write it down in a blog. I have a blog, but I haven’t written in it for years. I now have time to do so. Do I want to? I don’t know…but if I don’t, it is not because there are no interesting stories to tell. :D I agree with you. This is a terrific blog, Cristian!
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A “give it to me straight” inspirational post to read in the morning. Thank you!
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Thank you for reading, Marisa!
And, yes, I do not like to sugar coat stuff. I am as direct and honest as possible.
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Thank you for this! It’s really inspiring!
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Thank you!
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This was a timely and apt read for me today. Strangely, just today I wrote about feeling like an imposter in my own life. Mind if I share this piece with a few friends?
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Hi Christina,
Sorry for taking so long to reply. Your comment went to spam.
And, yes, you can share this post with as many people as you like. Thank you!
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