“To That I Say, ‘Just Keep Livin’….”

The great Matthew McConoughey said it best. Whatever it is that you are striving for- that is what you should chase. How well do we know ourselves, and more importantly, who we want to be in this world? I think that this is a skill that comes with time and awareness. I think we need to ask ourselves from time to time, “are my actions, values, words, and dreams in alignment with each other?”. I am a big believer in signs. Little doses of inspiration that come out of unexpected places. In a recent interview I listened to between Lewis Howes and Matthew McConouhey on the School of Greatness podcast, I got that little dose of inspiration. Matthew said something that really struck me and I think it is important for us all to hold onto. When Lewis asked him what his definition of success is, Matthew said “the ability to stay in the race and commit to the chase in pursuit of becoming better versions of ourselves”. I love this. Stay in the race. Commit to the chase.

I think that what is at the core of McConoughey’s advice, is the idea that we must continuously work towards our dreams. And I don’t mean just our big dreams or the ones that we have for ourselves in twenty years. I also mean the little, day-to-day intentions that we have set out for ourselves. Maybe it is to notice the beauty in each day, to be kinder to those around us or ourselves, or to live with a sense of peace and contentment. We must work for these things each and every day. Life moves fast and in order to stay in the race of it without falling behind, we must be committed to chasing whatever it is that we want. And this is not something to be scared of or intimidated by. In fact, it is one of life’s gifts. The ability to truly create the reality that we want. It is all up to us. It always has been and it always will be.

It seems that there will always be a hurdle to overcome or a bump in the road somewhere along the line, sometimes even full detours. But in order to stay on the road, we have to commit. And by committing to ourselves, we are automatically committing to the ones we love. And at the end of the day, we are all on this ride together. 

The moment we realize that our life is up to us, is the moment life becomes a whole lot richer, fuller, and more meaningful. Figure out what it is in this life that you want. Who do you want to be? How do you want to spend this one precious life? And to that, I say (or as Matthew would say), “Amen. Just keep livin’ ”.