How To Create The Life YOU love
Written by Claire Dunkley from Cluzie Clinic
It's not easy to break the mould. We live in a world where expectations are set and can be tough to shake. That's why it is important for you to know that there are no rules when it comes to writing your own life story. You may have been told that you need an MBA or PhD degree before you can start your own company, but this isn't true! All of those things seem like they should matter more than anything else, but what really matters is, if you're willing to put in the work and make sacrifices for success.
The Typical Life Flow
This is the typical life story, and this is what we’re always told to do – our timeline from end to end.
Birth à School à University à 9-5 work à Buy house à Marriage à Family à Divorce à Retirement à Death
But wouldn't it be refreshing if we had another perspective? Let's look into some alternate versions!
What if we don’t have to go to school? What if we could explore, not home-schooling, but unschooling? Dr. Peter Gray in his Ted Talk ‘How Our Schools Thwart Passions’ shares that following your passion requires lots of time to play and explore which one might not be able to achieve by just being in school and doing school stuff. His recent study on grown ‘unschoolers’ – those who were not bound by any curriculum – interestingly found that many of these young adults were pursuing careers that were direct extensions of the passionate interests that they had developed in play as children and they were living their lives with joy and contentment.
University – we need to go to a university to get a good job. But… what if we don’t need to go to one? Think about some of these wealthiest and most influential entrepreneurs in the world who dropped out of college – Steve Jobs ($10.2B), Bill Gates ($151B), and Mark Zuckerberg ($135B) – who all left college before they could get their diplomas but still achieved success.
Having a 9-to-5 job is definitely the standard but why do we have to work these hours? Why not work the hours that you want to work, create a job or a business where you can work the number of hours and still get paid the amount that you want to get paid, how’s that? Plan your own work schedule and be your own boss.
In a normal ‘grown-up’ life, you may find that a mortgage is necessary. But what do your beliefs around the need for homeownership say? I don't know about all of us but it seems like when we have mortgages, we feel chained down by our financial obligations in this world; feeling as if there's no other option than settle into 9-to-5 jobs just so the house can get paid off on time every month - ugh! There is no correct or incorrect choice when it comes to the decision of whether to rent or own a home – it’s a huge investment that requires a well-thought-of decision based on personal circumstances. Maybe even caravanning around Australia may be the right option for you… if that’s what you’d love to do?
Another very traditional route to a person’s life is marriage. Social norms dictate that you must get married in your life, but what is the point of getting hitched if it means giving up who we are? Is there really any benefit other than societal pressure and preconceived notions about how things should go down? The high cost for marriage often leaves people feeling self-doubt or like an outcast because they can't live up to these expectations. There are many different ways for couples to commit their lives together, like a commitment ceremony, without the stress and red tape of becoming legally married and signing legal documents. How important is it to actually have a marriage certificate versus having an agreement with your love partner as to knowing spiritually that you guys are connected?
After marriage sometimes comes having children. The decision to have children is considered the most important in one's life, but there are so many questions you need answered before making this choice. Is it my experience or someone else’s belief that I must procreate? While having kids does boost your life satisfaction, it comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility and daily stress. This results in a rollercoaster of very high highs and lows over the course of your experience of parenthood. If it is truly what you want, ask yourself these questions: “Is this the kind of experience that I want to have?” “Will I be doing the best thing for my children if I’m only doing it because other people said that I should have children?”
Then there’s divorce and then fast forward comes retirement. Why do we need to retire at 70 and then only have five years left of ‘living’? Live in the moment! If you're ready and able-bodied then get up off those knees! Create your life now - don't wait any longer because there's no telling what will happen if we stay here too long.
We all know that when it comes to happiness, the grass is always greener on the other side. But what if you can't change where you live? What if your circumstances are set in stone and there's no way for you to rearrange them or even make up new ones as they go along? The answer lies within us. It sounds like an impossible task at first but once we start making our own rules as we go along, anything becomes possible with just some creativity and passion. So, take those dreams of a life different from yours and do whatever it takes to achieve them! Live the life you love today because tomorrow may never come.
