Life is Short, Do the Thing
By now, we are all too familiar with the phrase “during these uncertain times,” yet nothing could be more accurate in describing the months (that have turned into years) of uncertainty.
We’ve gone from a mysterious illness that spiraled into a full-blown pandemic and lockdown, to a recession and mass layoffs. And while we keep doing our best to avoid these once-in-a-lifetime-type events, many of us are just now waking up to how fleeting and precious life really is.
So let me ask you a few questions. If you found out that today would be your last day on Earth, would you do things differently? Are there things that you would regret doing or not doing? Perhaps people that you wished you’d spent more or less time with?
I’m going to make a bold assumption and guess that you’ve answered “yes” to at least one of the aforementioned questions.
I’m also going to assume that for many of you reading this, one of the things holding you back from doing things differently, is fear. Fear of taking time off from work, fear of judgment if you lean into your passions or even fear of saying ‘no’ to a person or opportunity that doesn’t feel right. While those feelings are all valid, fear often stems from limiting beliefs, it’s beneficial for us in this day and age, to challenge that. If you knew that today would be your last day on Earth, would those fears really matter? Probably not. And what would most likely take those fears’ place, is regret.
“The wealthiest place on the planet is the graveyard because in the graveyard we will find inventions that we were never exposed to, ideas, and dreams that never became reality. Hopes and aspirations that were never acted upon...” – Les Brown
Fear is something that you can move through, and quite often when you do, you realize that what you feared wasn’t as bad as you initially thought. Regret, on the other hand, is heavy. It can sit with you because of missed opportunities, and often opportunities to see a person or do that thing that you may not have a chance to do again. Before you get upset with yourself, remember that we all make mistakes and from those mistakes, we learn lessons. In fact, I often tell my clients, there is no failure in life, only feedback.
So in an effort to move through life with as few regrets as possible, how can you begin celebrating yourself and your life now, instead of hoping that those around you will celebrate you once you’re gone?
Here are a few places to start (I recommend grabbing a pen and journal or notebook for this exercise):
Take inventory of your surroundings
Write down a list of what is sucking up unnecessary time and energy in each area of your life (ex: career, family, relationships, etc.)
Detox and delegate
Review your list and remove anything that is no longer serving you (detox), and delegate tasks to friends, family, employees, or community members who can help take things off your plate.
Now that you’ve cleared some space, think about the things you used to do that gave you joy (i.e. played soccer, danced, painted, etc.) What were they? Make a list of those things.
For each item on that list, what is one small step that you can take to recreate that same sense of childlike joy, happiness, and fulfillment into your life?
As humans in a progressive society, we’ve become used to running a mile a minute. Because of this, we’ve seemingly forgotten about how important it is to check in with ourselves. In fact, many of us only do this “check in” once a year to set a New Year’s resolution, rather than on an ongoing basis.
When we take a second to reflect and get back to basics, the building blocks and foundations of our lives, we’re able to reconnect with how we got here in the first place and reassess if the path that we’re on still makes sense for us to pursue.
I encourage you to practice this exercise once a month, if not, once every few months. You don’t need to wait until shit hits the fan to take action. Clean up your life like you would clean up your room, car, or living space. The less clutter and noise you have weighing you down, the lighter the load you will carry into the future, allowing you to move with more ease and clarity.
If this exercise has piqued your interest and you’re looking to dive deeper, check out the free Career Clarity Workbook or connect with me to hop on a complimentary discovery call.