”Living Over Existing”

”You weren’t born just to live a life and to die; you were born to accomplish something specific. Matter of fact, success is making it to the end of your purpose; that is a success… Success is not just existing. Success is making it to the end of why you were born.”

Ever just go through the day and feel as if you can’t change your life for the better? Everything has been decided for you and you have no choices in what you do, wear or say? Some days can feel like that but have too many in a row and you just might be drifting aimlessly through life.

Then there are those people who get excited when they wake up in the morning. They have things they look forward to and they don’t know what is going to happen to them in the future. These people don’t merely exist, they’re full of life.

” I want every day to be living for the living, not just traipsing through it existing. I’m just interested in life and the world and exploring”.

Living Or Existing

I think the biggest distinction between living and existing comes from how much control you have over life decisions. Where do you see control coming from? In general, someone who exists feels as if everything is outside of their control while someone living knows they determine the path their life takes.

Emotions have a big role to play in this. Someone who exists lets emotions such as fear and anger dictate what they can and can’t do. Someone who is living understands those emotions, controls them and doesn’t let them interfere with their decisions.

Someone who exists would stay in the same dead-end job for years despite being unsatisfied and unhappy. Their fears have trapped them and they have no plans of getting out. They’ve lost hope and just mindlessly go through the day in order to maintain the status quo.

But it goes much further than a job and paycheck. Someone who lets their fears control them won’t take other actions that would improve their life. They stay in relationships they don’t like, don’t do things on their bucket list and always put their dreams on hold.

People who simply exist do the same boring routine every day even though they don’t really like it. They don’t take any chances of improving their life just so they can maintain their current comfortable lifestyle. This is because they are unable to take control of their decisions.

”All existing things are really one. We regard those that are beautiful and rare as valuable, and those that are ugly as foul and rotten The foul and rotten may come to be transformed into what is rare and valuable, and the rare and valuable into what is foul and rotten.”

Zhuangzi

How to Stop Existing and Start Living