Living Your Best Life
December 9, 2007 at 9:23 pm , by Emily
I have had the phrase “live your best life” going through my mind since earlier this week when I was watching Oprah (just like every other stay at home mom – while eating bon bons). Oprah had the author of the book Eat Pray Love on her show. I haven’t read the book. I’ll say that first. But I’m not really going to talk about the book itself here. I am just going to talk about how watching that show made me feel.
I watched the episode and it was all about this woman who was in her 20s and married and feeling miserable and empty and she left her husband and went to Italy and ate a bunch of delicious food, then went and prayed for a while and then fell in love. I am paraphrasing.
The episode went on to highlight all these women who watched an episode of Oprah and read the book and they all were gushing about these huge changes they made in their lives and how wonderfully happy they all are and it was supposed to be all sorts of inspirational. And at first glance, it was. I actually turned the TV off and had myself convinced that my life is empty and I needed more to fulfill that emptiness.
Enter reality.
Since when does a person have to do something totally dramatic like leave a spouse or travel the world to find themself? I am not saying that taking that route is the wrong way, it’s all well and good when a person is in a bad marriage and needs out for whatever reason. Fabulous. To each their own. I guess maybe it just doesn’t make for a best selling book when a person just decides to make the best of what they have.
What about the woman who feels empty but has a so-so marriage and 3 great kids? What does she do? I admit freely it takes all sorts of courage in this world to do a variety of things. For one woman sticking out rough times in a relationship and making things wonderful is courageous. For another woman, leaving her so-so relationship is courageous. One just makes for a better read at $15/copy.
I know a lot of women in this world who are fabulous. They’ve overcome things I wish never happened. And not only overcome them, but come out the most amazing, loving, appreciative of life and all it’s blessings women.
How does a person decide to live their best life but do so without book-worthy dramatic effect? They decide today that they’re going to make the most of what they have. They decide they’re going to do what feels right to them, whatever that may be. And sometimes, they’re going to decide that this is as good as it gets and enjoy the ride.
So much of how good of a life a person has is based on that person’s perspective. Just making up your mind that life is wonderful and amazing and appreciating it can result in one’s best life. An attitude shift, a smile, a gesture of love and appreciation. Those things make life fulfilling and better right there. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. Just deciding that you’re here, you get one shot and there’s so much beauty around you. That can make all the difference.
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by Mrs. Micah
On December 9, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Indeed. We’re not all going to get a million dollars (all at once anyway), so we might as well work with what we have, do our best, and enjoy it as much as possible.
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by FourPillars
On December 9, 2007 at 11:44 pm
You almost lost me at “Oprah”!
Great post – I think “living your best life” means being very selfish and ignoring the fact that what’s “best” for you is not necessarily best for others. Your example of someone who has three great kids is a perfect illustration of where you have to enjoy what you can and try to deal with the other bad stuff.
Another problem is that some people are under the illusion that it’s possible to have a “perfect life” and they think that since their life is not perfect (compared to some idiot on Oprah perhaps) then they should be unhappy and need to make some changes.
Mike
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by Angela (Cottage Magpie)
On December 10, 2007 at 12:51 am
I love this post. We live in such a “me want now” culture that anytime there’s any bump in anything people give it up (marriages included). But anything worth doing/having/being is worth being patient for. Truly.
We talk about this a lot, not so much because of marriage but beacuse of this house we live in. Well, maybe it is a marraige of sorts. It’s not the type of house I thought I would be in, and I’m sad that it’s not charming like I want. But this is where I am. I believe that if I can accept that and give the house what I can, that what inherent charm it has will show through and/or pave the way for something better. But as long as I resist the life I’m actually living, nothing better could possibly come.
~Angela
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