Life, on the surface, might seem like a really simple thing. It’s a four letter word and an easy one at that. Beneath the surface however, where reality lies, we can see that it is really most complicated.

Especially human life, though that is our own doing. But this theme is prevalent in nature too which you can easily observe in the animal and plant kingdom where eat and get eaten seems to be the way of life.

It seems like nature has ’struggle’ built into the design of life itself. However, we humans, thanks to our intelligence, can steer away from that design should we choose to.

We have the power to go above and beyond the state of just existing and experience all that life has to offer, a life that has been augmented by the changes we have brought about on the planet. However, taking a look at the average person, it seems like they are just existing, letting life happen.

Are You Simply Existing?

What I mean by this is a life of settlements. We humans are very different from the other species that we share the planet with, in that, we have hopes, dreams, aspirations, desires, wants and a general ‘view’ towards life and an ‘image’ in our heads of how we would each like to live.

The modern society that we have created is a direct result of that. It has been our desire to never settle that has kept us going and becoming more advanced with time.

There is an irony in that however. Though as a species we may be ‘not settling’, on an individual basis, there are millions of people that settle in life for far lesser than what they had hoped to achieve. This relates to their work, place where they live, even spouses and friends and almost all areas of life.

There are many, many reasons for this and those are not important. Bottom line is, a lot of us just keep on giving ourselves excuses about why things are the way they are and not the way we want them to be. Hence, the settling mentality. Such a life, is mere existence where you are but a cog wheel in the societal machine.

Are You Living?

I guess everyone will have a different explanation to what truly living life constitutes. But in my own opinion, I think it all boils down to pleasantness. If you are pleasant about everything (or most things) in your life, you are truly living it to the fullest.

This could mean that you have the perfect work that you simply love doing, you have great amazing people in life that keep on lifting you higher, you get to travel around because you just love it, or a million different things.

If that image in your head about how life should be resembles reality, you are ‘living’ and frankly you would be in the minority. True happiness is almost like a treasure in today’s world.

Many people might think that such a life is just impossible and the people that preach it are kidding themselves or the people that claim to be living it are just full of it, but hey! those are the exact kind of people who are simply existing and can’t see beyond their bubble, so why listen to them anyways!

What You Can Do?

I’ll tell you from my own personal experience. The number one thing that you got to do is stop giving yourself excuses. If you want to your body to be fit, stop giving yourself excuses and just do it. Hate your job? Stop giving yourself reasons to still stick with it!

The day you decide to take matters into your own hands and decide to do something about it, is the day your life starts to change for the better and you start breaking out of that vicious state of simple existence.

Yes, it’s scary. Trust me, it is! Even as I am writing this, I am reminded of my own new path in life and it scares me a little. But you know what? It’s a good kind of scary. The one that will ensure that you are own the right path and on your way to true happiness.

As Steve Jobs rightly said, “Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” Just identify your dreams, make that picture in your head the clearest it can get and just go for it!