Disclaimer: what follows is unsolicited life advice you probably did not ask for, do not care about and do not need… or at least you think you don’t 🙂
Someone did ask me for it though and caught me off guard – as per usual whenever someone asks me for life advice… I mean… I do not consider that I have my life together and sorted out enough to qualify as being the advice-giving type 😊))
Anyways! Let’s proceed:
The message read something along the lines of: “I am not sure I am doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I have a degree, a decent job, earning a good income, I live in a nice place and despite all this I don’t feel either happy nor satisfied. I constantly feel like something is missing, like there is so much more I could do, like there is so much more to see out there and that I’m wasting my life behind a desk… What should I do? I’ve been following you for quite a while, you seem to be enjoying what you’re doing, and I would appreciate some advice… “
Of course, I was flattered that someone contacted me in such a sensitive time of their lives, regarding such an important matter, but initially I had no idea what to reply. I mean… what if I say the wrong thing and this person follows my advice? What then? I thought about it for a while and this was my reply:
What would you do with your life if there were no limits?
What are your goals, your dreams, your priorities?
Are you following the crowd or listening to your own wishes and intuition?
Have you done everything you planned on doing up to this point in your life?
Have you done everything worth remembering lately?
If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?
Those are the questions which I ask myself regularly because I believe that our long-term happiness, satisfaction and accomplishments rely on how honest we answer to them. It is important to think about what you would be doing with your life, if you could pick anything, to follow your goals, dreams and get your priorities straight, to figure out if you are doing what you are doing because you want to or just because that is what everyone around you was doing. Furthermore, I am a strong advocate for implementing deadlines for our plans because “someday” is more or less synonym with “never”. As well, although I do believe that routine is essential when it comes to certain aspects of life, never doing something bold, fun, crazy and worth remembering… simply means that your life lacks excitement and therefore it is boring.
Last, but definitely not least, I am a strong believer in the fact that a place does not necessarily feel like home just because all your friends and family are there and we shouldn’t settle there out of the fear of losing them; true friendships, relationships and strong family bonds will not be weakened by distance, but your will to live, your happiness, your spark and your state of mind will be weakened by you not following what you believe that will make you happy – regardless of what that is.
As about doing what you are supposed to be doing – no one other than yourself can tell you what that is and if you are not feeling happy doing whatever it is that you are doing, then you’re definitely not doing it! I am not saying that doing what you love and following your dreams should be or is going to be easy in any way, but when you’re on the right path you will know it because you will feel proud and satisfied of all that effort and sacrifice you are putting in. Lastly, remember that failing will never be as bad as the crushing regret generated by never trying.