Living on Purpose | Intentional Living

Last year was rough. Last year at this time (pre-COVID) my dad had a heart attack. Right before Thanksgiving, I lost my minister (who was also my friend) to a heart attack. My Gram passed away after 100 years of life and our beloved family dog also passed. Throw in the pandemic to add fear among all that loss… it was a rough year.

But there was good in last year as well. My sister had a beautiful baby girl. We added chickens to our crazy lives and a new puppy. Good or bad, life keeps moving forward and so should we. I have learned that life has BOTH good and bad moments and it always will. It is in how you handle these moments that defines life as “good” or “bad”.

The past year could have put me in a really bad place mentally and emotionally. I had to make the DECISION to focus on the good and have hope for the future. I was made aware that I need to start living my life differently. We all know that life is short and that today could be our last day but we don’t often live that way. It is hard to live each day as if it were our last when, chances are, it’s not our last. We have responsibilities to tend to and a to do list to check off. I think most of us, when we think about living each day as if it were our last, think about blowing our savings to take that trip or do that thing we always wanted to. But that would be irresponsible, especially if you live long enough to need your retirement savings. I am not going to start living as if it is my last day but I AM going to approach my life differently.

I noticed, while staying at home during the mandated quarantine, that I had been focused too heavily on making an income, I had over-committed myself, and I wasn’t where I wanted to be or who I wanted to be in life. I was one of those people who enjoyed being told to stay at home because it allowed me to work on myself without feeling guilty. I NEVER would have stopped what I was doing long enough to make these realization or to do anything about them. What I have decided to do, moving forward, is to live my life on purpose. I am going to take stock in what I want to keep in my life and what I need to let go of. This can be stuff, people, or commitments. I am going to stop putting things off that I want to do. I am going to be intentional with my time and money. I will cultivate the things that I want to be in my life and I will be careful not to spend my money mindlessly.

I know that this is not going to be easy and I will have to be careful not to fall back into old habits. I am going to have to learn to be disciplined but I believe the quality of my life will be so much greater for it. I am listing some of the things that I will be doing to be more intentional with my life. My hope is that this will help anyone else who wants to start living on purpose themselves. I don’t have it all figured out but I have to start somewhere.