Living Archives - How to Live a Meaningful Life

You will feel more regret that you didn't try, rather than if you had failed. We all find ourselves in this senseless world, trying to live a respectable way, but what way is that? The only answer that makes sense is to follow our intuition and live in line with nature. Being true to yourself is more than reading self-help books and watching motivational videos; it's figuring out what works and sticking with it. It is easy to say you are being true to yourself, but if you are chasing likes, you've missed the program. Only you know what you want out of life. It is undoubtedly true that if anyone in the world knows what is best for you, it has to be you. But this doesn't mean it is an effortless quest; most of us have to discover what we want. When we are young and discovering the world, we probably get a lot of helpful advice that goes over our heads. It's not wrong; it's just not the advice we are ready for. You need to discover what you want. I've chased so many different ideas or projects over the years; I've probably tried to start a business five times. But that was always throwing darts with a blindfold. It takes time to get to the point where you can ask yourself, "what is it that I truly want?" and expect a meaningful answer. You will regret it later. Unless something terrible happens, we tend not to regret what we tried in the past. Instead, we regret what we did wrong by not trying in the past. You might have thousands of useless thoughts over the years, but some seem to stick. When you think about it at first, it isn't flushed out, but if it keeps coming back, this might be a hint that you are on the right path. Knowing what you want and never going for it feels like crap. Sometimes we get over what we've gone through; other times, it takes a while to accept what has happened and move on. So we may be able to forget our desires, but deep down inside will continue to remind ourselves. If you ignore what you truly want, you will regret it; if you try and fail, you will forget it. Doing what matters to us feels right. I am, sitting in my basement typing; it's late summer, the sun is coming through the windows, and I can hear the breeze outside. This is my paradise, I can't do this all the time, but I can do it now. This isn't to say that I can't do this again tomorrow; that is not what I mean. Doing what feels right might come in waves and spurts, so we need to be able to go along with it when it arrives and push towards it in the future. If you love your hobby, then you need to keep at it. In case I wasn't clear, writing articles like this is something I enjoy doing, it sort of points back to my old dream of being a writer. I've always known what I wanted, and now it's just a matter of being willing to do it. If you've figured out what you want to do, then you should keep doing it. If you've not figured it out, keep searching because it will come. Much of life is a matter of following other people's rules. Graduate school, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids, rinse and repeat. So much of what we do with our lives is a rules-based game that we play without even realizing it. Much of what we are supposed to do is dictated by rules that existed before our births, and for reasons we will never understand. Some rules make sense, but others are meant to be broken. Don't follow the rules that don't make sense. Some rules make sense; for most people, getting through high school before moving on to something else makes sense. But going to university for four years, getting six digits of debt and then trying to find what you love doesn't make much sense. There are tones of rules around us; we can see some of them and others we follow without questions. But as long as we are willing to write our own rules when we need to, things will go smoothly. You are more likely to get what you want. This should go without saying, but if you go after what you want and be true to yourself, you are more likely to get what you want. Some people think they will have a perfect life if they do what their parents tell them. But if your ideal life doesn't involve a house in the suburbs, then it might be wise to reevaluate the situation and choose something else. You can only get what you want if you know what you want. The default goal for most people is probably money, not so much because that is what they think is important, but it is essential to some extent. You need a job and money, but you will find that if you are willing to be true to yourself and work at it, it is much more likely to come true. Life is easier if we do what we are supposed to do. There are two ways you can take the previous statement; you may think I mean following the rules, which is true, but not the rules the world outside sets, but the ones that come from inside. Living in line with nature is difficult to grasp at first, but it means following your intuition and doing what is right. It takes time to build this sense and more to perfect it, but with time and a willingness to be true to yourself, you will work it out. Nature will show us the way if we are willing to listen. Everyone has their sense of what they should do, and sometimes we are wrong, especially when we are young and not attuned to our natures. But as we grow older, we come to feel what is right, and if we are willing to follow it, our lives will be much easier. Our nature seems to come from a higher power, but you don't need to believe in god per se for you to feel it; it is always there regardless of your beliefs. You don't want to compare yourself using others' standards. If you are true to yourself, it doesn't matter so much what other people do; they can have their lives and goals, and you can have yours. So often, we are told or expected to follow someone else's standard of what is right and wrong. But that isn't all there is to it. There are rules we should follow and means we should live within. You set the standards as long as you are willing to play within them. It is easier to say that you will live a different way, but it is quite another thing to do. When you are true to yourself, everything seems to fit in, and you can go along with the flow more easily. If you want to set the rules, you need to be willing to follow them; otherwise, there is no point. You will be happier. The most important thing about being true to yourself is that you will be happier than if you didn't. If you are always doing the opposite of what you want, it will fill your life with stress, but if you stop resisting and follow through, you will be happier and at peace. Being happy isn't the ultimate purpose of life, but it is an essential part of the equation for finding fulfillment in what we do with our time. Without an effort towards what we believe in, it will always feel like something is missing from our lives. Your happiness comes from your willingness to be true to yourself. It is easy to say all this stuff as if it were a cliche, but that isn't the case; you need to be willing to live your truth if you want that to happen. Do you feel that you are being true to yourself? If you aren't being authentic, is someone in your life living a way that you aspire towards? What could you learn from them? What advice would you give to someone who feels it is too difficult to be true to themselves?