Are You Fully Alive?

woman taking a deep breath against rural landscape
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Without your real self, without self-belief, without self-love, without self-trust, without self-confidence, you cannot be successful. You cannot be happy. You are not going to be able to grow. But once you know why you are here, why you living, why you are doing what you are doing, why you are who you are, you can change your life. You can live your real life. Then you are here to live, not just to watch other people doing things.

Enough of those things. The real question is, ‘Are you fully alive?’ What does being alive really mean to you? When you see people who are really alive, can you recognize them? As for you, are you here? Do you know why you are alive? Do you know what makes you happy? Do you know what makes you come alive, what makes you want to do more, no matter what? Do you know?

Do you know what matters to you, to your inner self, to your soul, not to those around you? Do you know what you do not want, no matter what? How safe are you in your own space?

When you are really safe in your own space, then you are here. You are alive. You are living the live that God has given to you. You are alive when you have the courage to live your life, to do things that others deemed impossible for you.

You are alive when you are comfortable with who you are, no matter what. You are alive when you have the courage to do what you love to do, not what people want you to do, or where they want you to go. You are alive when you are free to think your own thoughts, when you are free to make your own rules, your own decisions. You are alive when you know when to move forward toward what you really want for your life.

But if you think that you are not there yet, that you do not have the courage to do some of the things that I mentioned above, don’t lose yourself. Here is how you can make yourself come alive again:

Change how you see yourself. You have to do that. Because if you do not change how you see yourself, nothing is going to change in your life. Changing how you see yourself can change your life. It can change the direction of your future.

Follow your own language. Watch your language. Watch how you describe yourself. Instead of thinking negative thoughts, switch to positive ones. Like it or not, positive thoughts feel better than negative ones.

Challenge yourself. Do not settle for less. If nothing is working for you, you are responsible for it. Because you have accepted your comfort zone as your own reality. If you want to find what God has in store for you, you must get out of your comfort zone.

You deserve to be here. You deserve to have the best that God has for you. You deserve to have what life has to offer. Yes, you have to put yourself together. Putting yourself together means aligning your thoughts with your goals. When you do that, everything else will follow.

You are not going to give in to naysayers, no matter how hard the journey is going to be. When the going gets really tough, you are going to keep climbing; you are going to keep going. That is what it means to be alive, to be fully alive.

Again, the question is, ‘Are you fully alive?’

Dorie Clark On How To Be A Long-Term Thinker In A Short-Term World

‘Yu need to be excellent at what you do. But you also need at bats, because random chance means that even excellent performers will ‘fail’ sometimes. You have to give yourself multiple chances to succeed, because over time, if you’re truly top-notch, you will.’

‘Always think broadly and identify multiple paths to your goal. One might not work out, but there are almost always other possibilities.’

‘Get started in a very small way. Any goal can feel overwhelming if you look at it in its totality. But you’ll create positive momentum if you start small and can see your success build.’

‘No one is going to hand you development opportunities on a platter. You need to seek them out proactively.’

‘The best time to test out new ideas is when you’re in a strong position- not when you’re in a weakend one and are desperate to find the ‘next thing.’ Start planning now!’

‘Most of us can identify great- or terrible-opportunities. It’s the middling ones that are harder. Push yourself to say yes only to things you’re excited about.’

‘Decide what to be bad at. You can’t do it all. In order to be great at something else, accept that you’ll be terrible at something else. Refusing to make that choice leads to mediocrity.’

‘Your personal goals need a long-term strategy.’

Source

Dorie Clark (2021). The Long Game: How to be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World