How Do You Currently Experience Life?
Photo by Guille Álvarez on Unsplash
Do you enjoy your life as it is? Or should I rather ask: "When last did you enjoy life?"
Does it feel as if it doesn’t matter what you do, you just can’t get your breakthrough?
It feels as if everything is against you. Nothing ever works out the way it should.
You can't get yourself to fully trust other people. It feels as if “everybody is out to get you”.
There is so much to do and there are not enough hours in the day.
Does that sound like you in any way? Are you currently feeling somewhat...overwhelmed?
What can you do to enjoy life again?
You need to determine what is holding you back and what you can do to enjoy life again?
Where To Start.
The first and the best place to start is often the obvious, but also the one you don’t want to hear; with yourself.
We need to start by taking a serious look at our thinking habits and our behavior (what we do and how we do it).
That doesn’t mean you have to go on a guilt trip. We just want to find out if there is anything we can do differently to bring change in our lives.
You might have a very valid reason for whatever is going on in your life. Maybe it originated from childhood when you got exposed to lots of negativity and negative talking.
Maybe you got mocked or ridiculed as a child.
Maybe you’ve had a bad experience in your business. Maybe you even lost your business. Maybe you were in partnership with the wrong person.
It can be any one of many reasons and they can all be valid reasons. But there is no reason why you should remain stuck under that yoke.
None of those reasons should have the power to keep you from living a happy, fulfilled, and successful life. You can still enjoy life.
But there is only one person who can do something about that and that is you.
If it is a problem you are carrying with you since childhood, remember, you are no longer a child.
You can now make your own decisions as to whom and what you believe. You can decide what you are going to believe about yourself and what you are capable of.
Maybe you’ve lost a business. Well, it’s done.
It happened. It’s over. Take responsibility for the journey ahead.
Maybe, in the past, you've made a bad choice in choosing a business partner. Or maybe you made some bad decisions that cost you your business.
Whatever it might be, use that experience to learn from. Apply that knowledge in the future and move on.
If You Want To Enjoy Life, Do These 4 Things.
If you grew up with negativity or even some form of abuse, no doubt, it will affect you. But you don’t have to accept that burden and live with it for the rest of your life.
There are many testimonies of people who were abused, traumatized, or had a difficult childhood. Read some of these testimonies and see what they did to overcome their obstacles. See how they overcame their obstacle and how they enjoy life today.
It all starts with a decision. You have to make a quality decision that you are not happy with things as they are and that you want to change your life.
Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to enjoy life more:
- Change the way you think.
- Change your behavior (what you do and how you do it).
- Change your habits.
- Stop comparing.
Change The Way You Think.
Our whole attitude towards life can always be traced back to our thought life.
It is what I like to call our ‘belief system’. Everything that you believe – whether it is true or not – is based on your thoughts. This ‘belief system’ is formed during childhood.
As a child, you believed everything you were told, and whether it was negative or positive, true or false, you responded accordingly.
Do you constantly battle with negative thinking?
If you always doubt yourself or you always expect the worst to happen, this might be due to a negative belief system that was formed during childhood.
The good news is; today, as an adult, you have enough information available to you to make your own decisions.
You can now decide for yourself what you are going to believe and why?
Do you think you’ll never make it in business? Do you think you don’t have what it takes? Why not?
If you hate doing business, well...that’s a valid reason and you probably are right.
But, do you dream about having a business? Do you admire successful business people?
Then maybe it’s time to take a serious look at your ‘belief system’? It would be highly unlikely for you to be so passionate about business if you don’t have what it takes.
Are you constantly feeling overwhelmed? Stop for a moment.
What is the worst that can happen? Whatever you find so overwhelming, is it going to continue forever? Most likely not. Realize that there will come an end to it and start looking forward to that.
Have you experienced any kind of failure? Think about the lessons learned and use them to grow. No success has ever been achieved without failure along the way. Start looking at those "failures" as stepping stones and find some lessons to learn from them.
Even it means you don't want to continue with a certain project, but rather do something else, you would not have known that if you didn't learn it from that experience.
Change Your Behavior.
Your behavior is closely linked to your thinking.
Your thinking determines your behavior...what you do and how you do it. It is about how you respond.
Someone who feels insecure will easily feel threatened. And when threatened, people tend to respond aggressively.
Think about road rage as an example. When someone else drives like a lunatic, it is easy to lose your ‘cool’. I have battled with this one for a long time (I still often have to work hard at it, especially when my family is with me in the car). It feels like such a person is putting my family at risk and I cannot stand it. If you want to get me aggressive, threaten my family.
How I got this under control, is before I go on the road with my family now, I pray for God’s divine protection over me and my family. I realize that when we go out there, we will get exposed to all kinds of people, circumstances, and conditions.
But I decide beforehand that I am not going to allow it to become part of my world. It will not become part of my life and it will not steal my joy. I just remain focused on getting us from point A to point B, avoiding these "obstacles" to the best of my ability, and feeling safe under God’s protection (God does a much better job of it than I ever can).
When something happens (as it still does), I just smile and think by myself how awesome it is to enjoy God’s protection and I praise Him for it.
Change Your Habits and Enjoy Life.
We all have habits. Yes, you can have both bad habits and good habits. You need to change your bad habits for good ones.
Good habits can serve you well. Create routines for your day. Follow these routines to get certain tasks done. In this way, you will reduce your stress levels drastically.
By following different routines for different tasks, you don’t have to figure out what to do next all the time.
Create a habit of moving around. Follow a regular exercise routine and learn about healthy eating habits. Your body will thank you for it and you’ll feel much better too.
Stop Comparing.
Last but not least, stop comparing.
- Stop comparing yourself to other people.
- Stop comparing what you have to what other people have.
- Stop comparing what you do and how you do it to what other people do and how they do it.
If you want to follow someone else as a role model, that's awesome. There is nothing wrong with that.
It is good to admire someone else for what they do and for who they are. It is good to use such a person as a role model.
But study what they do and learn from that. Do not become a carbon copy of that person. Learn from what they do to make them successful and apply that in your life...and that often is working hard...
Don't just do something because Joe Superstar is doing it and you want to be like him.
Do things that make you happy. Acquire things that will bring you satisfaction, enjoyment, and pleasure.
We often have stuff in the house that we refer to as being “white elephants”...as having no real purpose.
Why did you buy it in the first place? Was it because everybody else was buying one? Was it to make you look good?
Buying something or doing something to please other people will only bring short-term satisfaction.
While people are commenting and paying attention, it makes us feel good. But the moment the excitement is over, all is gone, but the "white elephant".
It’s better to do something you want to do or to buy something you want. When you do, you are more likely to continue doing it and/or using it over the long term.
You don’t need other people’s approval to enjoy life. What brings you joy doesn’t necessarily have to bring joy to someone else. If something is beautiful to someone else, it doesn’t have to be beautiful to you. That is what makes each of us unique.
The moment you discover this truth, you will become a happier person. As soon as you become happy, you will start drawing people towards you, because it is nice to be around a happy person.
Now it’s Up To You.
If you want to enjoy life, it’s completely up to you. It’s a decision you have to make.
I hope this was helpful.
If you have ever experienced some way in which you can change your life for the better and enjoy life more, why don't you share it with us and let us all learn from one another?
Thank you for reading my post, I do appreciate it.
Note: Unless stated otherwise, all images used in this post are my own.