Proactively You

Dear Reader Friend,

This is not sage counsel. This is just a letter to myself to make sure I am on the right path for me. I get lost sometimes. I worry that there isn’t enough, that too much is going on around me and I’m missing something. I wonder at what my neighbors are doing just a few feet away and, yet, we are so far removed from each other. This is just my wake up call. If you find any truth in it, then that’s nice too.   Sincerely, Me

“The life you want is out there.  You just have to make sure you know what that life is…and proactively live it.

First of all, make sure the things you want are fundamental to the life you want.

What I mean is that, sure, money and fame may be desires for your life, but what is it about them that will really make you happy. Is your desire financial security and self-confidence?  Because when you are building your life you have to make sure the goals are not only attainable, yes, reach for the stars, anything is possible, but that the goal you are working so hard to achieve (and make no mistake, it takes work) is the right one.

Why waste years striving for your own (enter any desire here) when you could have gotten what you really wanted right from the start.  Instead of that mansion on a hilltop, what you really wanted was a cozy cabin in the woods.  You just didn’t make sure ahead of time that the desire matched the fundamental aim.

Secondly, go for it.

Okay, now that you’ve established the true desire, go get it. Make a plan for getting out of debt or making a little more money. Make a plan for feeling better about yourself or actively pursue better relationships.  Make a plan to learn something new every day or go get that education you have always dreamed possible.

Because we love to dream.  I think humans are meant to envision.  And it’s fun.  The what if’s and maybe’s are paths to ultimate success.  There is nothing wrong with them.  But at some point you either have to leave a dream behind or start making it happen.  If you want to be content, to be happy, stop dreaming about the unnecessary and start living the beautiful life you want.

Thirdly, a good life is nothing more than a life you are living, making, creating.

A life that just comes at you requires you to constantly battle the unknown and unexpected. However, if you are actively creating your best life than when the unexpected comes at you, and it will, you are ready because you know what you want. You have goals and aspirations.  This is your life, a proactive life in which everything about you is thought out and evaluated for its worth.

This one is almost interchangeable with “go for it”, the only difference is that while you are moving forward, there is nothing that says you can’t take a moment to evaluate.  This is where you say, “this is my life now, am I living it fully or can I make it better?”  Taking a moment, a step back, a time out, is better than ending up in the wrong life.

Finally, is the life you envision worth the work you will need?

It’s really important to make sure that you are not “actively” living someone else’s life or dreaming someone else’s dream.  If you want a life, you have to be willing to work so hard at it that some days you wonder if it’s worth it, but when you look it over, look around you, you realize that everything you need is right there.  That is when the fighting is important enough to continue another day.

From the clothes you wear, the paint color on your walls, the friends you make, the books you read, every aspect of your life should be a conscious decision.  Now if none of those are important to you than you can’t be surprised when they aren’t working out either.  If you have not been proactively living your own life, then do not be upset when your life is not working for you.”