Are you living life?

"Get busy living, or get busy dying." - Shawshank Redemption 1994

The quote about is from one of my favorite movies, "Shawshank Redemption." Recently, the movie being played over and over again on TV.

I liked the movie so much, I used to practice lines from the movie in my acting classes. One of my favorite lines is above.

I often hear people say,  "I don't get to live life." I often wonder what stops them. When, I'm down and things aren't going the way I want them, I realize the thing stopping me from living life is me.

I've had two major points in my life we're I felt I wasn't really living life. One was the 9+ months I spent managing a store for KB Toys. The second time was just after I moved to Arizona. I stopped living when the economy crashed and I "settled" for any job I could find.

Every time, this happened, I had to face myself in the mirror, stop blaming others and ask myself..."What are you going to do?" My answer, "Live Life!"

When you truly "Live Life" amazing things happen. You're getting the full experience, and it all starts with you. It's about what you do and what you stop doing!

I know what you're asking,  "What do you do to live life?"  My simple answer is this. You have to stop doing 5 things.


Stop Lying!
Stop Trying!
Stop Caring!
Stop Worrying!
Stop Waiting!


What does that mean? I'll tell you.

#1 Stop lying!

You have dreams, some come true and others don't. Why aren't your dreams coming true? Why aren't you living them? Do  you make excuses when they don't become reality? Do you blame other people? Stop lying to yourself! When you don't live the life your dreams, you get angry, depressed and start to doubt yourself. You lie to make yourself feel better. You lie to protect yourself. You lie to justify why your dreams aren't coming true. The truth is, every time you lie, you are preventing yourself from living life.

It's one thing to lie to other people, but when you lie to yourself, you are hurting yourself. If you are not achieving the dreams you want to live, you need to be honest with yourself. You have to change your thinking. You can't blame other people, you must take personal responsibility. You have to ask yourself are you doing what it takes to make your dreams come true. You need to set a goal. You need to make a plan. You need to follow through on your plan. You MUST BE HONEST with yourself and others.

#2 Stop Trying!
What are your dreams? What do you want you want to do? Don't live the dreams of someone else. Live your dreams. Don't try to be someone else. It's hard enough being you. Be yourself.
Stop trying to be something that you're not. 

Don't be the next (Instert Name Here), be you!

People spend too much time trying to be something there not. I love what Yoda says in The Empire Strikes Back, "Do or do not, there is no try." 

What makes you happy? What will make you happy? Write those thoughts down, make them into goals, put together a plan to make them happen and go out and do what it takes to make them happen!
    #3 Stop Caring!
What do you care about? Who truly cares about you? Stop caring about the thoughts and opinions of people who don't care about you and your dreams. This doesn't mean you surround yourself with a bunch of "YES PEOPLE." You want to be around people who CARE for you. People who COMMUNICATE, APPRECIATE, RESPECT and EDUCATE you. People spend to much time worry about the thoughts and opinions of people who don't CARE about you or your dreams. You need to CARE about the people who CARE about you.

#4 Stop Worrying!
 Once you stop caring, you can stop worrying too! Stop worrying about things you can't control. Worry about the thing you can control. You can't change the weather, but you can decide the appropriate clothing to wear for the weather. You can check the weather report. You can stay inside.

When you worry about things you can't control, you become stagnant.  Your worries can paralyze you. Your worries prevent your dreams from coming true. Worry more about what you can do, versus what you can do. Worry more about what can go right versus what can go wrong. Worry about what you can control.

Worriers are Fears. FEAR is FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL.  When you worry about what you can control, you are doing research.  You are searching for the truth. You are focusing on what is possible.

#5 Stop Waiting!  
I hear people say "I hope this happens." "I'll get to it tomorrow." "When "X" happens, then I'll do "Y"! "My dream will never come true." "I don't have the time." "I don't have enough money." "People will laugh at me." "I'll try another time."

Tomorrow isn't guaranteed.  All of the excuses above are made by people waiting for something to happen. The main difference between people who successfully achieve their dreams and people who don't...the successful people make things happen, they don't wait for things to happen.

You can't win the lottery if you don't play! 

If you're dreams are truly important to you, you need to show a sense of urgency. The dream doesn't have to come true right now, but you can start working on it right now. Weather you start writing down or typing the idea, you share the dream with a friend, you make a plan, or you do research on your dream you are not waiting, you are doing.

Be a person of action. Make your dreams come true. Be honest with yourself,  be yourself, seek out the support and advice from people who care about you, don't let your worries stop you and make things happen.
 
"The more you dream about your dreams, they further away they get." Frank Kitchen
 
If you want to live your dreams you must change your thinking! Stop lying, trying, caring, worrying and waiting so you can start living!