Lifestyle Design (LD) has become known as the process of building a small, yet sustainable business that yields enough money for the owner to do whatever they want without having to worry about money. But if business isn’t what you’re interested in, you should still be able to design your lifestyle…
So the HighExistence definition is as follows:
Lifestyle Design (noun) – the process of doing exactly what you want to do in life by any means necessary
Don’t get me wrong, starting a small business like a blog is probably one of the better ways to follow your passions while having no concerns about money whatsoever. But lifestyle design should not be limited to business-oriented people. After all, the entire purpose of LD is doing what you WANT, not what makes you money.
So here’s my message to you:
Doing well in school, getting into a good college, graduating, and getting a well-paying job is what is expected of you by most people in your life. BUT that does not mean you have to do it. If your dream is to be a doctor or a lawyer, that’s awesome! Go to school and follow your dream! But if your ideal life does not include you working a job from 9-5 until you retire at 65, consider the road less traveled.
Road Most Traveled: Working your ass off in school til you graduate at age 22. Working your ass off and being told what to do by people in higher positions than you for the 40 to 50 years after getting out of school. Retiring with enough money for you to actually start doing what you have always wanted to do, only to realize that you are well into old age and not as young as you used to be.
Road Less Traveled: Deciding what your passion is, what you want to spend your life doing, and then doing it. Not at age 65, not after you get a job, not even after you graduate from college. NOW.
“If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually,’ just do it and correct course along the way.”
Most people hate their jobs, which are what consume the majority of their lives. Why would anyone choose to do something they are not passionate about for the entirety of their youth and most of their adult lives? There are tons of answers to that question: money, security, fear, tradition, family pressure, social pressure, myopia, etc. But are anything of those things worth suffering your entire life doing something that you do not enjoy doing? Even if you do enjoy your job, is there not something else that you have always wanted to do, but are pushing off til a further date when __________ happens?
Newsflash: If you are reading this article, you more than likely live in a free country. That means that you can do what you WANT to do right this second. You are not required to go to college, to get a house, to get married and have kids or to drive a nice car. Again, if that is what you want, keep on chuggin’ down the road most traveled. However, if you have another dream, another passion, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???
You’re probably thinking something along the lines of “easier said than done!” I wholly agree with that. It is very difficult to drop the expectations that have been driven into your head your entire life and just do what you want. What a concept right? But what about your future? How can you just move to Spain and work on your novel or pursue (GOD FORBID!!!) art?
Q: You need to go to college and get an education, right??
Answer: College prepares you for one thing, and one thing only: Submitting a resume with your respective school’s name on it and getting a job. That is it. Nothing more. If working for someone else, working hours chosen by someone else, and getting paid the amount someone else has deemed you worthy of sounds good to you, go to college. Otherwise, skip the four years behind a desk and get on to what you truly want to do. Nothing is stopping you.
Q: How will you make money??
“Relative income is more important than absolute income.”
Answer: Worst case, you work shifts bartending in whatever location your dream resides. Or you sell your art for $5 each and live a life of sustenance. Whatever ridiculous source of income you have to supplement your dream with, or whatever low amount of money you make following your dream, at least you are doing what you want to do! Ask your parents, your friends or anyone you know if they are happy doing what they are doing. If the $70,000 a year is worth the 9-5. If a life spent pushing aside one’s dream for whatever monetary reward provided is, in fact, rewarding. Guarenteed you will hear uneasy yes’s or extremely regretful no’s. And hey, just because you are following your dream does not mean you have to be poor. The point here is that money should not be the object, your own happiness and sanity should be!
Q: How can I be sure it will work out?
“Define the worst case, accept it, and do it.”
“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”
“Inaction is the greatest risk of all.”
First off, life without risk is BORING. Safety is completely overrated. You only life once so why would you just settle for a life you do not want simply because what you want sounds “risky?” As the 3rd quote above suggests, isn’t it a bigger risk that once you are old and looking back on your life, you will unhappily ask yourself “What if?” Don’t regret your life.
Closing Statement: If you are settling for a life that is not what you want, you are not truly living. Do not kid yourself by saying that you will quit that job someday and follow your passion when you have enough money saved up. That means you are WASTING YOUR LIFE AWAY right now in anticipation of living later. You can do what you want right now, do not let anything, especially money, get in the way of your dream. Follow it blindly. Don’t think just do it. You will thank yourself later for not allowing yourself to throw your life away for that town house in suburbia with the Mercedes in the garage. You won’t care about that on your death bed. Too many people settle for that, don’t be one of them.
Great Websites On LD: ExileLifestyle.com and FreePursuits.com
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