Live with Purpose: The Guide to Living Your Own Life

If a line of strangers jumped off the ledge of a tall building, would you jump too, no questions asked?

No, of course you wouldn’t.

You would want to know why they are doing it. You would probably ask them a few questions first. And you would want to know what your motivations and reasons for doing it were before you did it. And you definitely wouldn’t just blindly follow them off the edge simply because they were all doing it.

So if we wouldn’t do it in that situation, why do we do it for so many other aspects of our lives?

Why do we so eagerly follow the path that people before us have walked, simply because they have walked it?

Why are we satisfied with going through the motions of our existence without ever questioning why we are doing any given thing?

Why do we believe that jumping off the ledge with everyone else is our only option just because society tells us it is?

I am here to tell you that it isn’t the only option.

[bctt tweet=”You are entitled to live the life that you want, and not the one that you think you have to.” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

We should be searching for alternatives to jumping off that ledge — alternative ways to live life. Why jump, when there could be a fire escape, an internal stair case, or maybe even a paraglider? There are always more options available than what is put in front of us and we should be looking for them. We shouldn’t just jump because we are told to or because we think we have to.

The Status Quo is Flawed

Don’t Just Do It Because They Said You Should

From a young age we are conditioned to believe that we have to follow a well trodden path that many have walked before. We are misled into thinking that there is only one option available to us — to go through the motions of life and to tick off the list of standard life goals that are laid out before us. To study hard, work even harder, find a partner, buy a big house and settle down, and then grow old as we sit on our pile of money and assets and wait for the sands of time to slip away. Sound familiar?

It is the Australian dream.

The American dream.

The “human” dream.

But it isn’t the only dream, and nor should it be.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to study and work hard to pursue a prestigious career in your chosen field, in wanting financial stability, or in dedicating your life to parenthood; none of these have to be your only choice. Nor do any of these have to be exclusively your sole purpose. You can have any of these as major pillars in your life while still living a life of your own design.

And if you don’t want any of these things at all — that is ok too! It is possible to live a happy and fulfilling life without having parenthood, a hefty asset portfolio, or a life-long career as a feature in your life at all.

Make Sure You Are Doing it for the Right Reasons

The point I am trying to make is not about how you should live your life. It is about whether you are thinking about your life choices, instead of just making them on auto-pilot. Whatever you are doing in life, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.  Ensure that you are making a conscious decision to do it, and that you are happy about the end result. Don’t let life make the decisions for you.

[bctt tweet=”Don’t ever feel bad for wanting something different or for taking the courage and initiative to pursue it. ” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

You should be asking yourself the questions  — why am I doing this? Is this what I really want? Is this what makes me happy?

If the answer to all of these questions are positive and comforting to you then you know you are on the right track. But if you feel like you are on a path that isn’t really your own and you aren’t entirely sure why you were on it in the first place, then you really need to consider making some changes to your life and priorities.

You Have the Right to Explore Your Options

You have the right to explore all of the other options that this world has to offer. You have the right to find your purpose in this life. You deserve to be happy — you should prioritise your happiness and not what society expects of you.

The Purpose of This Post

I am Not Selling Anything

Let me be clear, this is not a post where I tell you how you can make money while travelling, or how you can travel perpetually, or earn a living from social media or a blog. I am not trying to sell you a dream, or sell you anything for that matter. This is not what this post is about.

I am Trying to Share an Idea

This post is designed to help you shift your mindset. I want you to realise that you have a choice in how your life plays out and that you don’t have to just settle for a life plan that was picked out for you.

My intent is to help you make the change in your mind that I did. I want to help you alter the way you think about life and how you are “supposed” to live it.

I want to plant a seed in the back of your mind that will continue to grow and infest your body and your existence. I want the idea, that you have a choice, to infectiously spread through the entire of your being until you find it impossible to think about anything else.

[bctt tweet=”You don’t have to strive for all of the same goals as everyone else and it is ok to want something different.” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

What is Success

What Does Success Really Mean Anyway?

Society, our peers, social media, life — it all puts pressure on us to be successful, but what does success really mean anyway?

Do you own a house? How high have you climbed on the corporate ladder? How much money do you have? Are your children meeting all of their milestones? These are goals I am sure come to mind when you think of success. But these are the pre-conceived ideas of success that society expects us to adhere to. And a lot of us spend most of our lives striving towards these goals that someone else set for us in fear that if we don’t achieve them, we will have failed at life.

But it is a false pretence that leaves us trapped both in our own minds and in the real world.

Success should be different for everyone. It should be measured however you want to measure it.

Are you happy? Are you doing the things in life that you love? Are you surrounded by the people in your life who are the most important to you? And if you died tomorrow would you feel like you lived a fulfilling and purposeful life?

All of these can be met in any way you see fit — whether that be through your career, in starting a family, in living an adventurous life, or in any number of other creative and larger-than-life ways. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as it feels right for you. You should feel successful whenever you have met the goals that you put in place for yourself, and not when you have met the ones that society expects you to.

Living Proof It Is Possible

I Am Living Proof

Take me as living proof that all of this is possible. I spent a long time studying and working hard so that I could climb a corporate ladder, save my money, and build a life that I thought I was supposed to have. I had the serious relationship, I had the corporate career, and I was living in a three bedroom house filled with furniture and appliances and what I thought were adequate hopes and dreams.

Then I woke up one day and realised that none of that made me happy. I wasn’t feeling fulfilled, challenged or even remotely satisfied with where my life was headed or the path that I was on. I realised that I had been following a pre-determined path that I never wanted to be on and that I didn’t want to live a passive life anymore. So I threw it all away in pursuit of something entirely different. Something that was in my mind, grander, and more unique. Something that I actually wanted — a life that was by my own design and not one that was expected of me.

There is More to Life than Working and Surviving 

I realise now that there are more important things in life than money, status or power. None of it matters after you are dead and gone.

[bctt tweet=”The way you feel and live now, in the moment that you are in, is what counts.” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

It is so abundantly clear to me now that I only have one life and that I don’t want to waste it. I spend every waking moment making sure that I am making active choices and taking positive steps towards living the life that I want. I will not let my existence be for nothing. And neither should you.

Barriers to Living Your Own Life

It Doesn’t Matter What Anyone Else Thinks

Stop thinking about what everyone else will think so much. They don’t have to live your life, you do! Be your own person and pursue the life that you want.

[bctt tweet=”Don’t let the fear of failure or judgement stop you from living out your dreams and purpose the way that you want to.” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

This is just another barrier to happiness that we build up in our minds. Once you overcome this you will realise how broad your options and choices become and how much happier you will feel being so free.

You Can Always Make More Money

While financial stability can be a major factor in this decision making process, it doesn’t necessarily have to be. There are some people who require this for a variety of reasons, and who are more limited in this regard than others. But for a lot of us, we are really just using it as an excuse. We are scared of pursuing something that we are passionate about if it has risk, because it is so easy to stay where we are comfortable and financially stable, even if we hate what we are doing.

[bctt tweet=”At the end of the day, you can always make more money but you can’t buy back more time.” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

This is something I told myself over and over again whenever I made the enormous, and terrifying changes in my life over the last few years. As long as I have enough money to survive, does it really matter whether I have a huge pile of cash in the bank? I would rather put all of my hard earned money to good use doing the things in life that make me happy, rather than running out of time in this life to do the things that matter most to me.

The reality is that when we get to the end of our lives, it is our memories and experiences that will make us feel the most fulfilled and happy, and not how much money we have.

Don’t Think that It is Only Possible for Someone Else 

Don’t be tricked into believing that you don’t have a choice or that anyone who has chosen to leave this pre-determined path was lucky to have done so. They made a decision to leave their passive existence behind and pursue the life that they wanted — and you can too.

In the era of social media, it is so easy to find ourselves feeling envious of other peoples lives, particularly those who are living an alternative lifestyle. While a lot of what is portrayed by “influencers” on social media is staged and orchestrated to appear a certain way, there are an enormous amount of people out there who are actually living an incredible and unusual lifestyle that is very real and authentic. They are breaking down the boundaries and living a life of their own design.

Instead of lingering after their photos, updates and adventures, why not use it as a motivator for yourself?

Let it spark something inside of you. Instead of envy, let it foster excitement and inspiration. Let it expand your mind and horizons on what you believed could be possible for your life.

If you want something bad enough, then you need to make a conscious effort to work towards it. You need to fight for it with every fibre of your being until you get it. And don’t let anyone or anything deter you from it.

There are Plenty of People Doing It

Take a Look Around You

If you need a little more convincing that cataclysmic change is possible, then all you need to do is look. I am not the only one who was crazy enough to question the norm. Look at these three examples of people who decided to live an alternative lifestyle with travel and work-life-balance at the forefront of their motivations — See Nic Wander, Where Goes Rose, and The Turquoise Traveler. And if that isn’t enough, look at this Australian family who decided to take their children on the road with them and live an adventurous and worldly life together, chasing their dreams as a family unit.

But changing your lifestyle doesn’t just have to be about travel. Pat the Shuffler of Life Long Shuffle is another example of someone who is going against the grain, but in a totally different way. He is working hard, saving and investing even harder, and has intentions to retire in his 30’s so that he can do whatever he wants with the rest of his life, free from the restrictions of work and consumerism.

Taking control of your life doesn’t have to always involve changes as grand as these either. It can be as simple as starting a hobby you always told yourself you didn’t have enough time for, changing your career path to something you have always dreamed of doing, or moving interstate or overseas to be closer to the people or things you love most in life.

[bctt tweet=”Your goals don’t have to be outrageous or entirely insane. They just have to be your own.” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

Once you awaken the thought in your mind that there are alternative ways to live life, then the veil of the matrix will be lifted for you — forever. You won’t ever be able to look at life the same way again. And this is a good thing!

The Options Are Endless

Long Term Travel is Just One Option

The options are exhaustingly endless. And that’s the point. I am not trying to convince you to quit your job, to sell all of your belongings, and to travel full time. That was my goal. It was the choice that I made because it was something that I wanted to do. I wanted to eventually achieve location independence, a more flexible work-life balance, and to live a more adventurous and purposeful life. But the life I have chosen is just one of the many options that is available to you.

The Options Can Be Overwhelming

You can literally do anything you want with your life. It is almost impossible to comprehend the insane number of ways in which we, as humans, can live our lives.

And perhaps this is also part of the problem. There are so many options now, that it can be overwhelming. If we leave the well trodden path and try to forge our own, we become so overwhelmed by choice that we are suddenly paralysed by the indecision of it all. We panic and run as quick as we can back to the deep rut of our pre-determined paths that we so desperately wanted to escape.

The unknown is scary — I get it. Not knowing what the outcome is going to be can be terrifying. If you stay on the well-trodden path then you know what you are going to get — you are going to work to live and live to work, grow old and die. No surprises, no risk. Just as you were told it would be.

Don’t Live an Unfulfilled Life

But where is the adventure in that? Where is the thrill and excitement of the unknown and of achieving your dreams? Where are the moments that make your hair stand on end or your heart race so fast you think it might actually beat out of your chest?

[bctt tweet=”All of the best parts of life take risk.” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

And there is the very real chance that you may fail. But wouldn’t you rather have taken the risk and failed, knowing that you at least tried? Isn’t that a far better option than living a life of regret and arriving at your final moment with a long list of dreams unfulfilled and a gaping hole in your heart?

Fear Is Our Number One Enemy

[bctt tweet=”Don’t let the fear of failure and the unknown stop you from chasing your dreams.” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

Because I can guarantee you that you will be more disappointed by having not tried than you will be of having tired and failed.

[bctt tweet=”Failure isn’t permanent and it isn’t as devastating as living a life unfulfilled.” username=”@gseekingpurpose”]

People who take the risks to pursue their dreams know that even if they fail they will still have succeeded in life, because whatever they achieve is on their own terms and not on someone else’s. They didn’t just idly let life pass them by. In spite of all of the fear, risks, and societal expectations, they decided to pursue what was important to them and live their own life.

Hindsight is 20/20

Now with the benefit of hindsight I can look back and see that the risk was worth it. And that it is possible to live the life you want.

But I had no idea going in what to expect or how it would all turn out. I just knew that I wasn’t happy with the way my life was and that I needed to take the risk and make a change. I can now confidently tell people how beneficial it has been to leave the well-trodden path in the dust and to take the risk of living a life in the unknown. It could have gone horribly wrong, and there were many times that it did. But all of the sacrifices, hardships and struggles were worth it. I have rebuilt a life that has far exceeded anything I could have ever imagined.

I want you to have the confidence to take the risk too and to pursue your purpose the way that I have. The benefits are endless. No dream is too high. There really shouldn’t be any limitations on what you can manifest for your life.

Forge Your Own Path

So you if you are unhappy with the status quo, if you have a yearning desire for something more, and if you want to ask why before you walk off that building edge with everyone else then you are in the right place.

You can expect more posts like this moving forward. The ones that ignite that fire in your belly, and set your soul on fire. The ones that make you question your reality and give you the motivation to want more from this life.

This blog will soon be focusing more on helping others to find their purpose in life, teaching people how to live a more fulfilling life, and showing people that they have more options available to them than what is laid out for them by society.

Forge your own path. Live with purpose. And most of all, do it all because you wanted to and not because you thought you had to.

--Girl Seeking Purpose