My Best Life
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
I follow a lifestyle blogger who touts living her best life. She just turned forty and decided that it is about time she live her best life. She realized that life zooms by at warp speed, so we must hang on tight and enjoy the ride. Why not take pleasure in the life that is before you? I like this mantra. I want to live my best life. But, how do I do that?
The other morning, I groggily walked into my husband’s office, coffee in hand, and dropped a bomb. I don’t think it was even 8am yet, and this, on a Saturday. I asked him how his spiritual life was going. You know, the kind of conversation that needs to happen before one has time to ingest their first cup of coffee. Of course he was in the middle of something, so he asked if we could talk in a bit. I obliged but not without creating my own conversation in my head assuming how this talk would go. He finally found me in the kitchen awhile later. We talked about life and spiritual things. We acknowledged that life, right now, is good. The conversation shifted to past experiences and what the future may hold realizing that through all the hills and valleys we’ve survived together over the past twenty-one years, life was good.
What we realized as we hashed out what could have been an intense conversation, is that life is good even when it isn’t. We have had our fair share of trials. How could we not. If you are breathing, you will face some sort of trial. Yet, even though we faced some tough stuff, we can still say life is good and was good in that moment. Was it hard? Yes. Did we struggle in our relationship in those moments? You bet. Did I cry? Absolutely. We felt all the things. But, the trials, the pain, the stress, the hurt didn’t stop life from happening around us and to us. Life still moved. We still smiled even when there were tears. This is living your best life.
Another way I have discovered as an adage to living my best life is celebrating others. There are so many people out there doing what I want to do. Some are better at it than me (hello…motherhood) and some are doing exactly what I wish I could be doing right now; especially in my career. I can choose to wallow in self-pity that I am not good enough or cry the “why me” song allowing others successes to rob my of my joy, but that gets me no where and definitely doesn’t help me live my best life. Instead, I have chosen to cheer those people on and man, does that feel good. I am genuinely happy for those who are thriving in the areas I desire to be because there is room for everyone. God doesn’t say, “Oops, I’ve got too many in that area. Maybe next time.” He created all of us with room to spare. Why not shout cheers of congrats to the woman beside you who is killing it? Celebrate those who are doing exactly what you want to do. I promise it leads to living your best life. You free yourself from envy and self-shaming. You empower yourself to work harder towards your goal learning from those who are winning in that area. Live your best life by celebrating others.
One last thing (of many), that I am learning in this whole “live your best life” adventure is to not sweat the small stuff. Yikes. This is a toughy for me. I sweat the small stuff. All. The. Live. Long. Day. I have an internal combustion button that will go off if I can’t take care of all the small stuff. Guess what? It will all get done eventually. All of it. Promise. So, go outside and play baseball with your kids. Sit in an actual chair and read an actual book. Let that friend who needs to meet for coffee to chat right this minute but you have a gazillion things to do interrupt your day. Live your best life. Let go of the small stuff.
Throw life around like confetti. Live it up. The “thief” comes to steal and destroy you. Don’t let him. Live that abundant life God has waiting for you: yep, even abundance in the hard stuff. The best life? It’s there. It’s waiting for you. Live it up.
Love & Blessings,
Meg