Dive deep into life
“It is not length of life, but depth of life.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
We all hope to live for a hundred years. We believe that 100 years guarantees we’ll have lived life to its fullest.
However, it doesn’t matter how long we live, it’s how much we do and how much life we have in our days.
You may be stalling until you retire or until the kids move out or until you make enough money to really enjoy life. But you can’t do this. Who knows when your time will be up?
So do yourself justice and focus on how well, not how long, you live.
Move to the edge, look over, put your arms up, take that leap of faith, and dive deep into life.
Purpose
If you really want to experience what it means to be alive, then you need to figure out your purpose in life. It’s the foundation or the diving board you must dive into life from.
Knowing your purpose unleashes so much joy and motivation. It also brings you peace of mind.
If you don’t believe you have a purpose, you’re merely in denial and avoiding a difficult subject. It’s understandable; thinking about your purpose in life can bring about a lot of questions and revelations.
I previously wrote an article entitled “5 easy pieces to piecing together your purpose in life” that really simplifies the process of discovering your purpose, but it also makes it very effective.
Bring your past forward
Most of us have memories that we want to forget. But doing so is like cutting out chunks of our lives.
To really live you need to accept and embrace all the adversities and events you went through. They have taught you so many lessons that you need now.
Do infrequent things frequently
Living means to do new things. Existing means you’re just doing the same old thing.
Cut down on planning and start doing
Planning is essential. You need to know where you’re heading in life, but a lot people over do it, instead of just doing it!
You can plan and plan, but nothing will happen until action is taken.
Stop turning age into a barrier
This goes for the old and for the young.
You’re never too young or old to figure out your purpose, achieve goals, change, or start being happy. Each day is a new opportunity. You have 365 opportunities each year.
Don’t seek perfection
Seek to grow and to learn, but don’t seek to reach a state of perfection, because being perfect is as good as being dead.
Your body may stop growing, but your mind doesn’t. So be sure to engage in as many topics as you can, even if you don’t like them. Growth needs an open mind to work.
Get to really know your family members
It’s kind of sad and frustrating that we often don’t get to really know our family members. I guess we get so caught up in work and in what we call “life” that we forget to talk to our family members about their past, present, and future.
Get to really know yourself
To really know yourself, you need to experience new situations, both good and bad, and sometimes let them get out of your hands. You also need to meet people from different races, backgrounds, and regions. Then you should reflect on the way you reacted to them and what you liked and didn’t like about that.
Death
Don’t be afraid to think about it every once and awhile. You shouldn’t dwell upon it or fear it, but thinking about death always puts things into perspective. Troubles, money, adversities, and set-backs seem to disappear. They’re no longer that big.
Thinking about your death is also great motivation to jump back in the game and seize every second you’ve got.
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
- Oscar Wilde
How do you dive deep into life and live it to the fullest? Please share your tips, quotes, stories, and advice in the comment section below.
Related articles:
- The art of getting off your ass
- Popping the procrastination bubble you’re stuck in
Photo by notsogoodphotography
6 Responses to “Dive deep into life”
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Great article and some good tips.
There has been a lot of talk lately on some of the blogs I read about making sacrifices to achieve what you want in life. While I agree that sometimes you must make little sacrifices, you should never stop living.
I don’t necessarily agree that one should live with the idea of always dying tomorrow. I do believe that if you’re holding back on living in exchange for something better later then you will never be happy.
Hey Mark,
Glad you enjoyed the article! I just checked out your site, it looks great.
I agree that people shouldn’t think about death every day. But I have found it necessary to think about it to help me go for it and release my inhibitions.
-Andrew
Hey Andrew,
Solid article – weaves a lot of timeless wisdom into a super compact post
One belief I have in truly enjoying life is to “have depth, not breadth” in the activities/things I’m engaged in, so this post really resonated with me.
Extra points for the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote
Cheers,
Will
Hey Will,
Thanks for leaving a comment! I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I was going to write a much more longer post, but I thought it had more impact as a short and sweet post.
-Andrew
Hi Andrew.
I realy like the article. It helped me facing the world and my life stronger.
Now I know what I have to do , and stop complaining.
Thinking about death really waked me up and now I fear nothing.
Thank you for your profound article.
Cheers
Glad you enjoyed it!
-Andrew