Sometimes it is easier to figure out how you do not want your life to turn out than to outline what you would like it to be.
So here is my anti-vision:
I do not want a life spent…
- In places where presence matters less than prestige
- With complaining, complacent people who take life for granted and fear challenge, responsibility, and growth
- Overweight in body, possessions, unexamined emotions, and mental busywork
- Without sunrises or sunsets, long walk, and slow-thinks
- In spaces ugly, impractical, and unhealthy
- Wondering what if I lived as if I was grateful for and gloried in the gift of life
- Yearning after things I do not work towards or know I cannot have
- Becoming only the societally acceptable version of myself
- Watching and admiring more than doing and being
- Not touching grass, dirt, people, plants, animals
- Eating and drinking foods and drinks acquired out of convenience and thoughtlessness
- Explaining myself and being limited to what others can understand
- Waiting for life to start after this or that milestone
- Chasing security at the cost of living — surviving at the cost of what gives value to that same survival
- Settling for “almost”
- Having to use screens for more than an hour each day
- Not having enough to treat loved ones to good meals and meaningful experiences
- Having a body that flinches from discomfort, challenge, or strain
- Be in close proximity or relationships with people I need to constantly filter myself for
- Having days always catching my breath due to stress, pressure, and a tight schedule
- Losing my sense of humor, love of beauty, and search for truth
- Not planting flowers and trees, eating chocolate and drinking tea, and giving smiles and hugs
- Having everything money could buy and none of what it could not