I had a conversation today with someone about their best life. They kept using that term – best life – so I asked them how they would define their best life. In the silence I heard a dog bark in the distance as they had never thought about defining for themselves. There was a very long pause, and they said, “That’s a really good question.” I asked them to think about it, talk with their family and spouse, then we would chat further.
Strange how we talk about our lives and our goals and all too often forget to define what it is we RELLY want from this life. We work, we play, we love, we lose and then we repeat. Before we know it years or even decades have passed and we are still in rinse and repeat mode. Or we are facing a major life change – new job, retirement, moving, an empty nest – and we are still thinking that our best life will fall into our laps as a pleasant surprise. How will we know when we get that best life if we never define what it looks like?
Being able to do what you want to do, that means success. Which includes being able to provide for your family, grow, learn, share and then encourage the next generation to be able to do the same. It is easy to think about success, it is often harder to define. It takes time, quiet reflection and writing things down. Often the ‘what we don’t want’ list is easier to tackle at first, then we settle down and the ‘what we do want’ list begins to emerge. As our stage in life changes our desires, wants, needs and dreams tend to change as well…which means we need to keep updating ad revising our list. When we are stuck in rinse and repeat mode these lists get lost in the daily to dos of everyday living.
So what does your best life look like? What do you NOT want, and what DO you want? Get out that piece of paper, notebook or journal and start writing it down. Take a break and think. Your best life is waiting and it may just be where you right now yet you don’t even know it…take the time to find out.
Ann Art Gallery Blog 