“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
― Socrates
So the Greek Philosopher Socrates stated that way back then and the phrase has been used by thousands, probably millions, ever since.
But what does it really mean? How do you examine your life and why bother? Doesn’t life, and stuff, just happen?
Well I guess it does to some people and perhaps these are the very people who probably most need to examine their lives and their choices.
Personally, I like to design my life as best I can. I’ve found it doesn’t always work out exactly the way you plan, think and hope it might (I didn’t plan on being sick for 12+ years that’s for sure) but if you’ve got a pretty good idea of who you are and how you operate, getting back on track after your plans go out the window is way easier than if you had no plan to start with. As my illness progressed and my life changed so radically, I had to continue to change my plans, often on a daily basis and business goals had to be put on hold, but my overall plan to get well and have a healthy, productive life again never faltered.
I kept deeply examining my life and asking myself what there was to learn from my state of being. What was I missing? Why couldn’t I master this illness the way I’d mastered so many other big challenges along my journey? At times I beat myself up and thought I’d got everything all wrong, but as my plan was to get well and get my quality of life back, I quickly brought my focus back to what I wanted and not what I didn’t want and I continued to take action accordingly.
So I guess it’s my firm belief that it’s always best to have a plan for your life but if it doesn’t turn out the way you want, be willing to be flexible and change. We need to keep noticing how we respond to situations or whether we simply impulsively react. We need to keep check and make sure we’re thinking for ourselves and not continually being led by the opinions of others and as I mentioned in my last post, for the happiest life possible, we need to live according to our values and if you’re not sure of what yours actually are, then perhaps it may be prudent to follow the wisdom of Socrates and examine your life each and every day.
The more you know yourself, the more you can be sure that Every Day Gets Better.
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