Are You Living Life or Just Building One?
[Original post 3.1.2020]
Hey friends!!
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that 99% of you have social media platforms.. So I'm sure you scroll your feeds more than once a day and you see all these people either "living their best life" or busting their ass to build one. From my point of view, we're all either shaming people for taking vacations or for working so much that they don't travel at all.
My thoughts: Balance that shit out baby!!!
I know people say "life is short" all the time, but it really is! Look, I honestly live paycheck to paycheck like most of America. One thing about me though, I'm going to take a vacation! Sometimes the trip is paid for before I go, other times I have a payment plan that continues after I've returned from living it up. I've gone on vacation with a decent amount of money to spend and I've gone with $100 to last me all week. I have no shame! Want to know why? Because those bills are still going to keep coming in whether you take a vacation or not!
That's not the point of my post today though. The question I posed was, "Are you living life or just building one?
Building a future is great, don't get me wrong. You should definitely prepare for it, work hard, and save for it. However, are you so busy preparing for your future that your life is flying by? Have your kids and/ or partner become accustomed to not spending any time with you because you're always working? Have you become so blinded by your tunnel vision and dedication that you're now immune to seeing the disappointment on their faces?
Take a second and really think about those questions.
Okay, now that you've thought about it, what are you going to do about it? How can you change so that you won't wake up one day and realize that you spent all this time building the life you envisioned but you never really appreciated or lived the life you had at the time?
I have a couple suggestions:
Schedule uninterrupted time with the people you love. We're all busy but there's no excuse as to why you can't set aside one or two days a month that are only for quality time with your loved ones.
Keep dates that you schedule. Things happen all the time & we need to cancel our plans. The most important thing is to reschedule the dates/ plans we make and keep them. Personally there have been plenty of times when I've had to cancel but I try my best to make sure I reschedule within 30 days. Not only because I feel bad for canceling, but because I want the other person /people to know that I not only value them, but their time as well.
Be fully present. No texting. No phonecalls. Just genuine conversation and eye contact. Watch them. See their faces light up as they tell you about what's happening in their lives. Look at the way their eyes sparkle when you look at them. That glow they have.. this is why you need to be present.
Do things outside of the bedroom and outside of the house. If your partner is the person you need to be spending more time with, try to do activities that require going somewhere fun or somewhere you can dress up & show each other off. I don't know about y'all but I love when my man gets dressed up...and I love getting dressed up too! Now, this one doesn't apply to everyone because some are homebodies and that's okay! Pick a good show to watch, cook dinner or dessert together, relax outside on the porch.. just do something to let them know that they are a valued part of your life.
We're all busy. We all want more out of life (some people are content though and that's okay too. If you like it, I love it!). That's no excuse to let your work consume you though. If you don't learn how to enjoy the life you have with the people in it right now, you're going to wake up one day and realize that those people are either gone physically or emotionally...and both are equally as hurtful in my opinion.
So get to it friends!! Plan something with your lover, bestie, or kids. Makes dates and do something fun! Live life while you can.
Until next time; Be YOU. Do YOU. LOVE YOU 💜
