Live Your Life: A Challenge to Take on Hobbies that Make You Happy

We spend so much of our life stuck in our daily routines. These routines are necessary to keep our lives from spinning into unstoppable chaos, but they are routines nonetheless. For most of us, we wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, have a little family time, clean up, go to bed, and the process starts over again. At the end of the day, we still have only done simple things that the average person does every day--slept, ate, worked, etc. Each part of our routine has subcategories of things that happen as part of its own routine, for example, your morning routine or your routine for work. Sure, things change here and there from day to day, but the overall routine stays unaltered.

No one wants to wake up and see that their entire life has been completely based on routine after routine. There comes a time when this cycle needs to be broken, even if it is only for a little while. That time is now. It does not matter who you are, where you come from, how old you are, or what you are doing, the time is still now. My challenge to you, right now, is to stop letting life live you; take charge and start living your life. Forget about your everyday routines (not completely, obviously, because there are still things that have to be done), forget about your boss, your diet, your exercise routine, or whatever holds you back.

Start out by making two lists: a list of things you enjoy doing and a list of things you want to do before you die (yes, I have done this). The lists do not have to be made in any particular order, nor do they need to be arranged in any specific way. While making the list of things you enjoy doing, be sure to include the things that you use to do all of the time and just cannot seem to find time for anymore. Just because you have not done something lately, does not mean that you no longer enjoy it. While making the list of things to do before death, I encourage you to start simple and work your way up. For example, trying a specific kind of food or learning how to ride a bike should be listed before skydiving or reading one thousand books.

Now, here comes the tricky part. From the list of things you like to do, I challenge you to incorporate at least one thing a week into your routine. It can be as simple as taking a bubble bath on Monday night, or it can be painting a picture of the sunrise on Sunday morning. Once you have successfully incorporated one item from the list into a normal week, try scaling up to two things, and if you get daring, you might even try one small thing a day.

The second list will always be evolving; every day you might think of something else you want to do before you die (mine is constantly being added to). It is a little trickier to get these things done, but if they are truly something you want to do, then you will do them. Try doing one thing a month, but most people are only able to do one thing every three to six months. Even still, that is one thing that would not have been done otherwise.

I urge you not to forget your passions. No matter what you love to do (paint, write, read, sing, dance, etc), make sure not to cast them aside to fit into this cookie cutter world we are living in. Do things you love to do and live your life. When you are old and frail, you will have plentiful stories, vivid memories, and very few regrets--how many people can say that these days?