How I Turned My Life into Fun And Exciting from Tough and Sad
Do you feel detached from your life? Or do you feel extremely satisfied and connected with your life?
There is nothing in between. Either your life feels satisfying and personal to you or you are mentally exhausted carrying the burden of life, reading relatable Instagram posts on how life is tough, and you no longer know why you go to the office every day while waiting for weekends to breathe a little life.
I used to fall into the second category. For the majority of my life, I have been running and fighting against life. Like, if I stop, I will fall down. If I look back in time, all I can see is a confused girl who is always rushing from one point to another. She is always doing something. Never taking rest, neither mentally nor physically. Because if she does, life will slip away and then she will have to tell the world that ‘she failed.’
Oh, how horrifying the thought was to send chills down my throat until my entire body shakes with the anxiety of ‘What ifs.’
I ran so fast that I lost sight of ‘why I started in the first place. What am I running towards? And what am I leaving behind?’
Life somehow became a burden that was too hard to keep carrying on. But I didn’t stop until I was mentally exhausted.
It happened 2 years back when I left my job because it was too toxic and while leaving it, I had great plans in mind, ‘I will start my own freelancing business, this and that.’
But after leaving the job which had killed me from inside, I was always on my bed. I was physically incapable of waking up to do something and mentally so exhausted that I didn’t even have the energy to curse myself for not executing the perfect plans I had in my mind.
Today when I am writing this article, I feel so satisfied with life that I just want to live a little more each day — feeling excited about waking up early.
How Did That Change Happen?
Here are a few shifts on a personal level that helped me, and I guess it will help you:
1. A Waking Call Every Morning:
When you cannot control anything, control the first hour of your morning.
Most people wake up just to curse themselves for oversleeping or cringing at the thought of going to work. Their morning starts on such a bad note that everything after that follows a similar pattern.
One thing that has helped me over the years is to have a morning routine that is personal and satisfying to me.
For example; All these influencers keep saying ‘Don’t use social media for the first hour in the morning’ but do you know what I do?
I wake up, make my bed, bathe, and with a good cup of coffee, open my laptop just to scroll through Pinterest. There are not enough words to describe how much peace and happiness it gives me. Scrolling Pinterest is my favorite hobby. So I start my day with something that feels satisfying to me. I don’t give a damn about what others think of it.
After that, gradually I shifted to writing articles or working on my book. It’s so simple yet serves me.
Now, I don’t know you so I cannot answer what will work for you. But the one thing you can do to make your life beautiful is to — start your day beautifully.
A lot of things will happen in your day-to-day life which will force you to lose your temper or go off the track but if the start is right, you will be mentally balanced. You wouldn’t be in a rush. You will start your day with a good note in a good mood. That’s all that matters.
There are no excuses for it. When I was working as a full-time employee, I had to leave my house at 8 AM to reach the office. I used to wake up at 6 a.m. so I could have one hour dedicated just to me. Reading, looking at the sunrise or just sitting there.
Now I leave it on you to figure out what will be your morning wakeup call to start your day beautifully. You can start with as little as 15 minutes. There is no pressure to have a strict routine or timetable.
2. Move With Motive:
Why do you live every day?
Take a second before you answer my question. In fact, read that question again. Why do you live every day?
What’s your motive? Are you living every day with a motive to enjoy as much as you can or try as many new things as you can or are you just getting up, going to work/college, coming back to have dinner and sleep again?
Excuse me for saying this. But you have been blessed with a gorgeous mind that produces desires, dreams, and aspirations every day. You are surrounded by most things you once wished for. When will you start to enjoy it all?
When I was going through the tough phase, I felt like I was drowning with so many things to take care of only to do nothing and curse myself.
What helped me was — moving with motive each day. The motive was simple — do what I can to make this day better.
The one simple change helped me to question myself ‘How would I like to spend today?’ Often there are so many things to take care of that you feel you are losing control — you cannot see a way out.
What you need to realize in those moments is, you don’t have to figure out the future or control everything. As cliche as it may sound, your focus should be on making TODAY count — doing whatever comes to your mind, giving your best in everything you do, be it working on a project or talking to a friend, bringing some joy in life in whichever way possible.
For example; I had made it clear to myself that I have two motives each day back when I was still anxious about my future.
a) One — do one thing that makes me truly happy. Something completely unrelated to my work.
b) Secondly — do one thing related to my work and give my 100% to it to avoid any regret or guilt.
It helped me to declutter any unnecessary thought or idea that wasn’t supporting me and keep my focus intact on what would bring peace into my life.
I would ask you to do the same. Start your day with a clear motive. Any motive that you think suits best your situation at this moment.
3. Have More Interest For Life Than Work:
One of my friends asked me almost 3 years back, ‘Renuka, you do a lot of things in your day, what do you do for yourself?’
And I said, ‘I study, eat and talk.’
He said, ‘No, these are the things you have to do. What is something you do just for you.’
I ignored him thinking he was being a philosopher. I understood what he wanted to say in 2022.
All of us should have more interest in keeping our lives exciting than just our work. There are a lot of people whose work drains them or maybe it doesn’t excite them. But that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy life.
Your work and your life aren’t dependent on each other. If you are doing a job that pays your bills but doesn’t excite you, it’s fine. You don’t have to leave your job to feel excited about life.
You can and should have more interest in life that makes life interesting and exciting for you. It could be going back to an old hobby, gazing at the night sky, waking up early to watch the sunrise, going boating every weekend, dancing to your favorite song every evening, starting your day with a hard laugh, learning a new skill or anything else that sets your soul on fire.
For example; A few months back, I started learning crocheting. Not because it was going to help me make money but because I wanted to learn it. I had so much fun learning it.
These days things were getting a little mundane so I found another interest — exploring more classic novels. It’s fun. I also started waking up early to go for cycling.
My point is: Life is yours. Either you make it fun or the world will make it dull.
The decision, however, lies in your hands.
Conclusion:
I hope this article helps you make your life interesting and happy. Just remember one thing, nothing will ever be completely perfect. One or the other area of your life will have issues. You can still choose to make life good by doing what feels good to you. One day at a time.
Until then, you can read my book — The Art of Being Alone here.
