Go to work. Leave work. Go to the gym. Come home. Eat dinner. Watch TV. Go to bed. Repeat the following day. Spend the weekends going to the gym, sleeping in and perhaps hanging out with my friends.
My life mirrored this experience for roughly 8 years. I tried to survive mostly because I gave a significant amount of my attention, energy and time to working jobs I disliked mainly to put a roof over my head, food on my table and to pay my bills.
I did not:
- thrive
- free myself
- liberate myself
- inspire others
on any type of scale because I lived predominantly to try to survive. Work a job to cover survival basics. Spend the remainder of each day working out and chilling in my comfort zone.
I felt depressed, bound and quite miserable because life seemed hopeless and flat out pointless. Life had to be more than working a depressing job solely to pay bills.
Do you find yourself in a similar boat? Do you live to thrive or just try to survive?
Pink Slip
My employer downsized me in 2008. I kicked around for a bit to chill. Feeling some freedom felt alien to me because I gave much energy prior to surviving, filling my days with keeping busy. I began to ponder the idea of living to thrive, to have fun, to free myself and to live my dreams.
Fast forward 12 years. I have circled the globe for a decade. I am a professional blogger. I largely live to thrive because I chose to thrive – not to try to survive – back in 2008. Freedom became my life. Fear arose in my being because I had to break free from survival mode ideals like:
- working any job solely to pay bills
- surrounding myself with people living in survival mode
- mocking free, successful, powerful people
- spending virtually all of my free time living in comfort, solely taking care of myself and my needs
I fell in love with freedom more than craving comfort. I chose a life filled with fun, freedom, fulfillment and quite a bit of fear-triggering too. Everything changed because I changed my values. People around me prior to 2008 simply chose to value surviving over thriving. But after 2008 I began surrounding myself with and learning from inspired, empowered, free human beings who chose to thrive.
Making the shift from surviving to thriving feels uncomfortable because deep fears need to be triggered, faced, felt and released for you to slowly but surely thrive. Welcome to being liberated. Welcome to REALLY living versus simply going through the motions to cover your survival needs.
Pay close attention to people who live their dreams from a liberated, compassionate energy. Follow their lead. Observe their habits. Pay particularly close attention to how top pros in their niches emit a generous, trusting, knowing vibe, and also dive into uncomfortable activity on the regular in order to be liberated.
Imagine calling the shots in your life. Being free is not for everybody until you realize how freedom is a mindset you can cultivate over a sustained period of time. Then, freedom *is* for everybody. Being free feels uncomfortable because free folk face, feel and release fears keeping them bound, locked into survival mode.
But is it really even a choice? Do you want to live life being bound, depressed and comfortable for 70 years? Or do you prefer to be free while having fun and making uncomfortable decisions from time to time?
Freedom wins when you give your attention and energy to freedom and starve the fears fueling your survival mode way of living.
About the Author
Ryan Biddulph
Ryan Biddulph helps you learn how to blog at Blogging From Paradise.
1 Important Piece of Advice About Receiving Advice
I am hardly as altruistic as the Buddha. I certainly am not lost in love, like Jesus Christ. But I embody a
Who Do You Follow on Social Media and Why Do You Follow Them?
I sometimes scan my Twitter main stream. Today I decided to make a list and work off of that instead. Why? I
Is Coffee a Long-Term Productivity Booster?
For many people across the globe, coffee is the drink of choice and solution to getting through the day. Many morning rituals involve
If You’re Living for Friday, What About the Rest of the Week?
It's Friday again, and my Facebook and Twitter feeds are lit up with Friday celebration messages. I have to wonder how many
How to Get Started as a Life Coach
Many of my coaching clients are people who want to become life coaches. It's an appealing field, especially for those with a
Are You in the Pen Pasture or Wilderness?
Walking goats here outside of Boston helped me create this little analogy between sheep, people and life. Pen Imagine being a sheep
Passion Plus Detachment Breeds Persistence
Bloggers often ask me how to be persistent. Some cannot seem to find the time to blog. Others quit, return to blogging,
Get to Know Closed Minded People Better
“I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.” ~ Abraham Lincoln Study closed minded people in your life. Do these types
Writing for Better Mental Health
So many people look for ways to boost their mental health, often wanting a quick fix or some positive affirmations to help
Why do so many people feel entitled to things?
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” -Confucius I'm going to call
Hugging Your Humanity
I went to town on lunch yesterday. 3 sausage slabs. 3/4 of a bacon cheeseburger. Pancakes. The volume? Not insane by my
Freedom or Fool’s Gold?
Like I have often read after consuming fortune cookies, the USA has entered interesting times. The fortune cookie pearl of wisdom: “May