Life is a funny thing.
It is so beautiful, so fragile, so amazing.
We are cognitive beings, capable of thinking, feeling love, and experiencing joy. We have the ability to run around in the sunshine barefoot on the grass while the wind blows through our hair.
That is what life is all about. That is living.
Yet most of us aren’t living. We are dying. Slowly and painfully. People are mad about their jobs. Stress about their finances. Angry at their spouses. We walk around bent sideways under stress, anxiety, and depression, thinking that this is how life is supposed to be. We are in such bad states, that we get angrier when we see those chronically happy and optimistic people prancing and dancing around, saying things like how great it is we have the ability to run around in the sunshine barefoot on the grass while the wind blows through our hair. Who says that?
I say that.
And I believe in that.
The meaning of life is to live. Not waiting to die. Life is about seizing the opportunities, and the moments that make you smile and say “ah”, not holding on to resentment and sadness and depression and anxiety. Let those go – be here in the moment.
“Oh – well it just isn’t that easy Zach. I know it is easy for you to see in your perfect little world, with your perfect little brain, and say your perfect little hippy sayings. It isn’t that easy”.
Yes, it is.
Here is how it is that easy – you ready? Read this next line nice and slow…
Whatever is causing you to die inside – whatever is causing the stress, depression, anxiety, sadness, resentment, and all other negative feelings – whatever that is – stop doing that thing.
STOP. DOING. THE. THINGS. THAT. DON’T. MAKE. YOU. HAPPY.
Go do something that makes you happy. Go be with people that make you happy. Go change our environment to something different to experience something different.
We all try to spend too much time overthinking how to be happy. We are in information overload with books and podcasts and audiobooks and experts and family and everyone else saying you should do this or you should do that. We hear news stories on how anxiety and depression are on the rise, yet ironically sitting and screen time are as well. We are raised to be brainwashed to try to find work we are passionate about so we never have to work a day in our life, only to struggle in every job we have because we aren’t passionate about it. We spend so much time sliding our thumbs through Facebook and Instagram trying to find someone whose grass is greener than ours and then feeling bad about it. We sit indoors, watching the latest Kardashian garbage, on our laptops, while we text our significant sitting right next to us the latest meme photo we found. And I know someone is reading that last line that is doing EXACTLY that.
It’s mind-boggling. And not that it is happening, that people don’t know how to fix the problem. Depression and anxiety are running rampant in our society, yet most people don’t want to do a god damn thing to fix it. Because facing the truth in your life is hard. Realizing that it is easier to hide behind the screen than live a life worth living. It is easier to yell at your spouse and belittle them, than start over and find a nurturing relationship. It is easier to go to a job that you hate than tell your boss you quit and hit the pavement again hunting for a new one. It is easier to get used to living cheaply and complain that you never have any money than actually getting your ass in gear and making some dough.
No one wants to work hard. No one wants to try. They want to sit there and bitch about the problems they have in their life instead of taking steps to make it better. And here is the kicker…
On your deathbed, your depression doesn’t matter. Your anxiety doesn’t matter. Your fear you had during your life doesn’t matter. Your job doesn’t matter. Your work doesn’t matter. Your money doesn’t matter. Your friends on Instagram don’t matter. It all just doesn’t matter in the end. In the end, you will die. And if you don’t change something, you are doing to die with so much regret in your heart.
I’d rather have happiness in my heart. I’d rather lay on my death bed, ready for death to come, knowing I created happiness every day of my life, focusing on things I love.
