There’s this one thing you cannot buy. No, the answer is not love. And definitely not beauty. Neither is it happiness. Nor friends. Not Intelligence. Well, the right answer is “time”, that no one can buy. These moments passing by while you wait for the right ones are gone forever. To live and to live in the moment is the rarest thing in the world, most people just exist. With all the YOLO, FOMO and existential thoughts drawing on me every once in a while, I have decided to plan my life around a few things that will make it meaningful, lively and complete.
So, here are top 10 things to do in our precious little lives to honor the limited time that we’ve got on Earth:
1. Discover Yourself
Who are you, when you are all alone? What do you live for? What would you die for? How long would you fight for what you love? What is it that makes your heart beat fast?
With too much noise and too many people perpetually surrounding us, we seldom hear our soul’s music. Let not that light within dim out or that voice get muted. Discovering oneself is a life long pursuit and a never ending voyage.
2. Travel Often
Whether you want adrenaline rush on adventure trips to the Andes or get amazed by Medieval architecture of European cities, travel as far and as wide as you can. Don’t miss out on the rich and myriad cultures, extravagance of the history of cities, magnanimity and uniqueness of people, pervasive beauty whether man-made or natural and unbounded experiences waiting at every nook and corner of this world. Travel is not over-rated my friend. It changes you and the places that you visit, forever.
3. Face your Fears
Afraid of heights? Plan a trip to Grand Canyon. Have social anxiety? Host a house party and entertain your guests. Defy your fears every moment. Look them in the eyes and tell them to F@#$ Off. Let them know who the boss is.
4. Learn a Skill
And try to master it. And then pick another one to master. Taking up new skills gives a purpose and renewed energy to your life. Learning a new skill is no less than falling in love. I am going to draw an analogy here. Learning a skill is like having a relationship. There’s a honeymoon phase when we are excited about the new and uncharted territories. There’s this period of getting used to things, and further on, the phase that brings out the difficulties, differences and anxieties. Post this we head into a comfort zone and with consistent time and effort, we get better by the day. Having said that, there’s one huge difference between learning a new skill and building a relationship. Any guesses? Well, when you learn a skill, at least you know it for sure that it is going to stay with you for the rest of your life.
5. Add Value to the World
Plant trees, donate blood, be kind to strangers and help mankind. There are million reasons to do these acts of kindness but due to the paucity of time and energy (Mondays are draining. If weekdays were animals, Monday would be an alligator and Friday a unicorn), I am going to discuss a few of them. Here are top 3 reasons why generosity is cool:
- What you give, comes back to you
- No kind deed is ever regretted (unless it was helping out your classmates in a test and you ending up with worst grades )
- Best way to add meaning and purpose to your existence
6. Read Often
Brighten up the world between your ears. Keep adding books to your “To Read” and “Read” lists. Reading will let you live hundreds of lives, help you meet thousands of people and take you through innumerable emotions and experiences. You shall be able to live in worlds that can never be yours and be the people you will never become. Who said magic is fictional because what happens inside your brain when you read a book is no less than witchcraft.
7. Find a Religion
Find something, anything that you would like to revere and worship from the core of your heart. Music, God, Literature, Dance, Art. Surrender yourself to something, that becomes your strength at the weakest moments. Give every piece of yourself to it and love your religion with every ounce of passion you can garner. This will not only complete you as a person, but you shall forever remain untouched by meaninglessness.
8. Stay Childlike
Be enthusiastic, spontaneous and confusedly confident. Dress up like your favorite movie character, stare at candies in a candy shop, display emotions (don’t act unreasonable and throw tantrums though. There’s a special place in hell for you if you do this.)
9. Stay Connected With Nature
Keep yourself in the vicinity of stars, in the neighborhood of birds, in the company of woods and in the presence of mountains and oceans, if not always, then as much as you can. Nature for sure reminds us of the important and helps us separate out unnecessary from what really matters.
10. Make an annual Wish list
And keep crossing out stuff as you do them. Every new year’s eve, try to work on a list of stuff you’d like to do over the year and keep adding on to that list all through the year. Make sure you’ve done ninety percent of the list by the end of the year.
As they say, life happens when you are busy making plans. Be already done dreaming about how you want things to be. Now is the time to live the life of your dreams.
Time is precious, use it well.
Did you like the list? Do you think I missed out on anything? Please comment on the comment section below. If you liked it, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
Happy Reading. Chao!