Enjoy Your Own Life Because No One Else Is Going To Enjoy It for You
When I was 21, I began reading content on Medium and was instantly hooked by the plethora of inspiring and informative content from writers all over the world.
But there was just one problem.
I wanted to do the same thing. That is, write content that would spring readers into action, or at least inform them of an idea or principle they weren’t familiar with before reading. I wanted this even though I had never written a piece of long-form content before.
Besides that, nobody would have a reason to read my crap anyways. Right?
I felt like a nobody. Just a body going through the dead-end motions on a road to nowhere.
Ok, maybe life wasn’t that bad.
But at a minimum I was passively absorbing other people’s thoughts and ideas while not producing any of my own. Which didn’t sit well with me.
Writers left and right would post about how to do certain things and how much money they were making from X, Y, and Z.
Which would send my mind spiraling into ideation mode. Which only started happening only after I read Become an Idea Machine by Claudia Altucher.
Most people suck coming up with good ideas, by the way.
Which is why most people follow the ideas of others, work at jobs they dislike for years, or don’t produce any of their own content for others to consume.
For me, every time I opened Medium I walked away with an actionable piece of advice tool I could try in real time, from real people.
Which has led to several discoveries and endeavors I wouldn’t have made otherwise.
I’m 27 now and can confidently say that if your one of those people that is easily envious of others or is unhappy with their life; that everybody has their own life and that it’s important for you to enjoy your own unique journey as an individual — despite how appealing the lives of others may appear to be, and despite how miserable your situation may or may not actually be. Although I hope that it’s not that bad.
You’ve been lied to
You see, the moment that you’re able to confidently let go of the fact that being at “Your Final Happy Destination” or “Having Made It” is an illusion designed to waste your entire life by disabling you to live in the present moment, everything changes.
Perhaps you already know this, but we can observe this by observing the lives of the rich and famous and the celebrities around us.
They have everything, and still want more. Or they’ve already done so much, but they still want to do more.
It’s just part of the human condition. The secret is understanding this and allowing your conscious to embrace the single moment that lies in front of it each second.
And you know what they say,
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift.
That is why it is called the present.
On the other hand, human beings combined with the internet make it impossible to not come across someone who’s living a life you aspire to have.
After doom-scrolling for a moment you’re likely to feel one of two emotions…
- feelings of smallness and inferiority within the world
2. motivation to achieve or do something similar
3. feelings of indifference/already satisfied with ones own life
It’s important to note which of these two you feel.
If it’s the first one, then you need to realize something thing:
Tip#1: people are in different phases of their journey than you
They are not better, nor are they more important than you.
Don’t get me wrong, their are some cool ass people with amazing ideas.
People are obviously doing all sorts of wild and crazy things for views and entertainment, changing the lives of others for the better, and making millions of dollars along the way.
So it’s easy to feel small, irrelevant, and unimportant. But you should still enjoy the small nuances of your own life and enjoy the people that’re apart it.
Even if you’re stuck working some dead end job for a boss that annoys you and you feel like your impact on the world is currently minimal.
That’s okay. As long as your setting goals, working hard, and striving for improvement each day — a plan for you will work itself out.
Which is the other point of this post, I guess. To mark a small milestone achieved for myself. I’ve slowly turned into one of the savvy nomads I used to look up to on this platform. Which sounds really lame when I say it like that. But it works, and is still true.
That doesn’t mean having thousands of followers or articles that rake in tons of money. HA, quite the opposite actually
But it does mean going from working in a deli (annoying manager included) and using a run-down PC, — to comfortably freelancing from home with multiple skillsets that I’ve learned how to monetize.
Toss in the fact that I also become a dad, and then later a single dad; and we’ve got ourselves a fun little series of unexpected events with multiple twists and turns that haven’t always made it easy to enjoy the moment, but have definitely made me stronger.
Just how the unexpected things you deal with will make your stronger.
I’m also not that special and have had some help along the way.
But I’ve also maintained a positive outlook which I believe has helped shift luck in the right direction for me at times.
Tip #2: Learn to enjoy life and be positive even when it feel like it sucks a*s
When you can appreciate life even when it’s not ideal, it will give you even greater appreciation of things when they do eventually start to go well.
I encourage each of you to go forward confidently and courageously in your journey, despite any negative circumstances you face along the way.
Try new things and test your abilities. Don’t be afraid of failing or being judged. Failure is how you learn and get better. Some fails are bigger than others, but there’s always something to take away from it. Just don’t be a dumbass.
Learn how to teach yourself things by learning from those who do it best and begin taking action on ideas that you have.
I definitely recommend the book I mentioned above by Claudia Altucher. (I actually thought it was by James Altucher, her husband? He’s awesome. Idk. I’ll let you look into the details — great read.)
Matt, why’re you talking about unspecified ideas and doing things? (Weirdo)
In essence — I’m talking about creating content. Or at least — creating something.
I can tell you from experience that it’s easy to enjoy the present moment when your actively building, learning, or executing your own ideas instead of consuming the ideas or content of others.
Anyone who writes or creates content regularly knows this, and I’d argue that people might be most content when they are creating something.
It could be a blog post, a website, a piece of art, music, or bridge crossing the sea. Of course a little creative inspiration from others never hurt anyone and is necessary when starting your craft, whatever it is. If your able to eventually monetize your creations — boom. You’ve made it.
Like anything, it takes practice to get better through trial and error.
To wrap it up:
Enjoy where your at in life.
Don’t let the game rig you: enjoy the good times, enjoy the bad times
If it sucks, you likely have the power to change it.
Most of the change we experience in life takes place within our own mind.
Most people aren’t that different from you, and you can create your own reality over time if your intentional about it.
That’s all for now.
Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!
matt
