Day 247: Who do you live for?

Who do you live for?
What do you live for?
Is it family?
       Work?
       Money?
       Security?
       Contributing to society?
       Walking in your faith?
       Being a 'good' person?
       Enjoying life?
       Leaving a legacy?
       Happiness?
       Just being you?

There are no limits to the reasons and priorities we have for living our lives.

Some of us - at this very moment - will be content in the way we are living life right now.
Others - including myself - will feel our current lifestyle leaves something to be desired.

No matter which group you find yourself, life is ever changing.
Nothing is permanent - which means there are always ways to experience life more fully.
i.e. there are always ways to enjoy your life more than you already are.

'But I already like my life.'
"That's great! And if you could keep all the aspects you like about your life and also improve aspects you don't like, would you be interested in that?"
'Well, I just don't see how my life could get any better...'

Uh, ok . . . I guess I'm not talking to you, then, unidentified perfect-life person. But thanks for illustrating a great point!

It can be hard for us to see outside our current reality.
And it can be even harder to see outside our current perspective.

The missing piece in both scenarios?
Being very clear on why you are doing whatever it is that you're doing.

I, unintentionally, reflected on this the other day after asking someone if they typically say goodbye to everyone when leaving a party or if they do the Irish goodbye, peace-out play.

[Side note: which do you typically do??]

I am more of a leave silently type of person - or so I thought.
Upon further reflection I realized some trends

1. When I'm having a great time I often stay until the end
2. I often don't (or don't want to) say goodbye to people when I'm not enjoying myself
3. Wow, I think I've attended a lot more parties where I don't enjoy myself than when I do . . .

Huh, that last one is a bit questionable. 

Why is it that I have disliked more parties or social gatherings I've attended than I've liked?!

Let me circle back to the original point of this post.
Intention.
The why behind what I am doing.

Do you know what I realized?

My why - in the majority of these not-super-enjoyable-to-me-experiences - was other people.
Not me.

This was a HUGE revelation. 

Because I was able to recognize that I was making choices for my time, energy, and life based on what I thought would make others happy, not me.

Because I was making choices based on what I thought I should do instead of what felt good and right for me.

Sarah thought #1: I don't really want to go, but I was invited so I should.
Limiting Belief: If I'm invited to something, I have to go to it.

 Sarah thought #2: If I don't go, then I'm not being a very good friend.
Limiting Belief: I'm not a good friend if I don't always go to my friends' events.

Hmm, ok. But you know what makes for a worse friend?
Going to something you don't want to be at, sulking in the corner, and then leaving early!

The world is better off when people are happy!
So why don't we start with ourselves?