Live Your Best Life

 

I hear the expression LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE all the time. It can feel contrived. It can sometimes be tone-deaf. It can definitely be irritating...especially when you're having a bad day. 

But for me, I take that expression in two different ways, and I think they are both helpful and can even be inspirational.

Let's explore...

LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE

1. It's been a year and a half since we moved to the Rhode Island coast. For us, it was a choice to make a fresh start--both professionally and personally--after several traumatic years.

I barely took note of our new town during the chaotic move, but once I finally opened my eyes and looked around, I was charmed. This little place has something special about it, something that is hard to articulate. It's a combination of seashore and organic farms and wildlife and nice folks and art...and new beginnings.

That was the thing I noticed as I met people around here. I kept hearing this story: Well, we used to live in Boston [or Providence, or any place] and we decided to chuck our old life and move here and become artists/farmers/kayakers/naturalists/gardeners/jewelry makers and so on. One woman has a pottery studio, a dahlia farm, and her husband surfs. Another woman had a bakery in Providence, and then sold her house, moved to the coast, and became a textile artist. Another couple left Boston and moved here to find peace and quiet with their dog on the beach.

I've never been to a place with so many people living their best life. I know, that expression can induce eye-rolling, but it's the best way to describe what I see going on here. These folks might not be making the most money, or have the biggest house, or be following a prescribed path to success...but it's the life they chose for happiness and contentment. And they're willing to take risks to get there.

It's humbling and inspiring to see people jumping off that expected path and doing whatever they want to.

2. As for the second meaning for this expression, it's a good way to start the day. A mantra of sorts. I remind myself, LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE each morning.

Because, frankly, we have no idea what the day has in store for us.

It could be a glorious day, filled with nature hikes and beers by the beach and spending time with friends.

It could be a simple day, a quiet day, with simple moments that are lovely.

It could be an aggravating day, filled with disappointments and missteps.

And, unfortunately, it could also be a devastating day filled with trauma, pain, and things too horrible to contemplate.

We don't know what's on the schedule for each day. We might try to control things, but the truth is there is a lot we have no control over, good and bad.

Sometimes, LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE is just survive, make it through and hope tomorrow is better. You do the best you can--that's your BEST LIFE for that day, and it's okay.

Other days, LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE is all about other people who need your help and support. You put aside your own needs to take care of them.

LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE is doing the best you can, each day, with whatever life throws at you during that 24-hour period.

I like both sides of this expression--the part about searching for your passion and having the guts to tackle that. And also the part about doing the best you can each day, no matter how tough it is.

Both are important. 

Sending love, strength, courage to all,

Penny

#simpleliving #liveyourbestlife #RhodeIslandCoast #coastalliving #happiness #newbeginnings #adventures #reallife

*post reprinted from Penny's social media