I was having a conversation with a friend recently, talking about how she disliked her job and that she felt like she was wasting her life away working for someone else. She felt she couldn’t stop because she and her husband had created a certain lifestyle and the bills that accompanied that. I just listened, because people mostly just want to feel heard—and not given advice.
But in my own mind, I was thinking, “What’s the point of having a certain lifestyle that you’re working so hard to pay for, if you’re unhappy with that life?”
Most people will choose what society has deemed as normal—a 9-5 job, a partner, a house, kids, pets, 2 weeks of vacation a year, a 401K. I’m not knocking any of this. I support people doing things that feel right and true for them. If the consistency of this feels good for you, amazing! If you’re choosing this, choose it fully. Do it because the ROI is worth it to you. What I don’t support is people blindly following the status quo instead of what does feel right and true for them. Life is short. We are reminded of this whenever someone passes, an accident happens or an illness takes over. We are here for such a finite time. No one at their death bed ever says, “I wish I had worked more.”
Whether you have a steady 9-5 or are a wandering gypsy, here are a few alternative ways of moving through life that may feel inspiring for you to consider experimenting with.
- Let Joy Be Your Compass
As hippie dippie as that may sound, this method is actually quite intelligent. Ever noticed that when you’re having a really bad day, lots of other things also start going badly too? Well, the opposite is also true—when you are in a state of joy, more joy arrives. It’s a universal law that we attract the same frequencies we are emitting. So, if you are choosing a job, partner, location, hobby, etc. that feels joyful, the chances of more ease and joy arriving in your world are high.
- The Surrender Experiment
Ah, this one is not for the faint of heart. Coined by author Michael Singer in a book of the same title, The Surrender Experiment is when you purposefully choose to not have any specific plan for life, but instead be guided by life itself. It means you say ‘yes’ to the intuitive nudges that appear before you, even if they seem illogical. With this method, your human ego and desires step aside and let the Divine Mystery be the guide. I can say from direct personal experience that this method feels like the least stable way to live, but it is also the most interesting. You’ll end up in all kinds of places and situations you would have never imagined. I wrote about my personal surrender experiment in a previous article https://topanganewtimes.com/2022/01/14/a-surrender-experiment/ Carpe Diem
You’ve heard of people having fatal illness diagnoses with only 3 months to live, and in those 3 months, they do every single thing on their bucket lists… Or if you are posed with the question: “If you only had ___ amount of time to live, what would you do?” Carpe Diem is Latin for “seize the day.” It’s about living each moment fully—like each day could be your last. This is a powerful one as it brings deep presence to each breath, each moment, and reminds us to not waste one more moment lost in doom-scrolling, but instead participating in life in the most engaged way possible.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” is such a wonderful quote by poet Mary Oliver.
I’m curious how you choose to live. What are some of your alternative approaches to making the most of your life?
