Living Forward

Imagine you’re on a surfboard, out beyond the breaking waves. You’re enjoying the sun and the fresh sea breeze, patiently waiting for that perfect moment. But when you look back at the coastline, you realize you’re being carried away by a riptide. You paddle against the current, but it’s stronger than you and bears you out into the sea, far from where you want to be.

For many of us, that riptide is life. 

By the time we hit forty or fifty, we find ourselves disoriented, exhausted, and adrift. We’re overworked, our health isn’t great, and our relationships have deteriorated. Life doesn’t look anything like what we previously imagined – and we have no idea how we’ve drifted so far off course. 

The key message here is: To take control of your life, you need a Life Plan. 

Your life circumstances play a major role in how far you drift away from your ideal life. You might not always have control over these circumstances. But you can control how you respond to them. 

Maybe you already know this. You know that being overworked and living near a fast-food restaurant – your circumstances – doesn't mean you should regularly eat fast food. And yet, you consistently delay addressing your eating habits. You think, “I’ll stop eating fast food after this work deadline. I’m too stressed to change my diet now.” But once that project is done, you find another reason not to change your diet.

Other times, you might incorrectly assume that certain circumstances are beyond your control. You tell yourself you can’t help eating takeout every night because your boss pressures you to stay late, so you don’t have time to shop for groceries and cook at home. These kinds of thought patterns trick you into thinking that you can’t take control of your life. But that’s simply not true! You can regain ownership of how you live. All you need is a Life Plan. 

Creating a Life Plan means taking responsibility for your life. It will help you proactively and intentionally make decisions that lead you in the direction you want to go. It will act as a reference point you can use to make sure you don’t get carried off by the current. And, importantly, it will empower you to stand up against those external influences that lure you away from the life you want to live.