your ideal life

I’ve found another one:

“Spend an hour and write down what an ideal life for you would look like.

Have you ever written down the people, objects, work, feelings and home which would comprise your ideal life? Why not put on some tea or coffee right now, sit in a comfy place and start writing it out?”

I’ve stumbled upon several articles recently on the topic of finding one’s life purpose and discovering what we want in our lives. Interestingly, these articles are largely similar in what they advocate as a starting point:

Taking time out to picture what your idea of an ideal life is like – down to the details of the way you want to live, the people you want around you, the work you do, the lifestyle you enjoy, the way you generally feel, the fun you have etc.

While some naysayers will argue that too much planning takes the “fun” and “surprise” element out of life, I think I have figured out the logic behind this. The idea is, if we don’t know what the ideal life to us looks like, we won’t recognize it even when we actually “make it” or are already living it (“personal definition of success”). Also, life can lack clarity of direction (which way now?) and a sense of purpose/meaning (what am I doing all this for?) and we may not be able to make decisions confidently when we find ourselves faced with various opportunities and options along the way (why A and not B?). We will be easily “seduced” by society’s definition of an “impressive lifestyle” or by our inherent tendency towards comfort (i.e. staying in the comfort zone), even if these are vastly different from what we really desire in our “fulfilling” or “ideal” life.

Living away from our values and what is really important to us as a result of having to maintain an overly expensive or luxurious lifestyle can lead us to burn-outs, feeling of disillusionment and restlessness and the constant fear of having wasted our lives.

Definitely something to think about, if we can find time, eh? :)