Level Up! With Shay

For the past 17 days I’ve been writing three pages in a notebook talking about whatever pops into my head. This practice is from the book The Artist’s Way (shoutout to my friends Ally and Leslie who introduced me). And with this writing, I’ve had a lot of interesting ideas that I’d like to share on my blog! My blogs so far have been “5 Ways To This!” or “10 Steps To This!” and as much as I love giving you actionable steps to leveling up your life and also lists (I’m addicted), I want to share with you some ideas I have about life…

My sister just turned 20 years old yesterday. I could hear my mother saying “Can you believe it?! 20 years! Life is too short!” While I understand the sentiment, and hear it quite often, I think to myself is life too short, really?

The beauty of life surrounds the fact that everything is born, it lives, and then it dies. That IS LIFE. When people say “life is too short” it seems to come from a few things and I will touch on one in particular – the person hasn’t lived the life the way they want and are being reminded of that.

Maybe this is harsh. Maybe I will say this when I grow older just because. Maybe I’m wrong about all of this! But I will continue anyway…

Let’s talk about this through an analogy –

Imagine you have a full cup of water. This water is your fulfillment, your nourishment, it is your life and it is life-giving. The water is what you do with the time in your days in life. And not just a “go to work 9-5 Monday to Friday, free on the weekend and holidays” type of life. This water is your life that you were BORN to live. (Think High Quality H20 type of water from The Waterboy).

This full cup of High Quality H20 equals the 24 hours in a day. Each sip you take is you doing something you love, again, something you were BORN to do. Maybe it’s writing. Maybe it’s creating a song, a painting, maybe it IS going to a 9-5 job that you absolutely LOVE! There are so many ways to drink your water and you can have as much as you allow yourself to have. You wake up to another 24 hours and there you have it, another full cup. And you have the choice to drink it or not.

Some of you will take a little sip here and there. You will write a little Facebook post (when you really want to write a book). You will go do some karaoke (when you really want to write and create an album). You will go to a stand-up show to laugh (when you really want to be on stage). And those who don’t take little sips of their water, will take big gulps. If the person wants to sell houses, instead of watching HGTV all day (little sip), they will contact a successful realtor to see how they can work with them (BIG GULP). If they want to start a band, instead of playing Rock Band with their buddies (little sip), they will put up flyers or a post on Facebook to look for members (BIG GULP). If they want to be a speaker, instead of watching a million TED Talks (little sip), they will join a group like Toastmasters or contact a coach who can help them (BIG GULP).

Even if you’re not a realtor, the next Def Leppard, or an international speaker by the end of your glass, you will have lived your day in fulfillment. And when you wake up the next day, you will have the opportunity to do it again.

What if we treated what’s most important to us like we do water? Like if we didn’t do them, we would die. What if, at the end of our lives, we weren’t thirsty for more life? Because as we went through our days, we were awake to the fact that life does come to an end. That those 24 hours and that full glass of water was available to us each and every day. We were hydrated, fulfilled, we lived life to the fullest.

Because, yes, life IS too short. It is too short to not do the things that make us happy. Life is too short to live by others’ rules. Live is WAY too short to not do the things we were BORN to do.

So I urge you to find out what makes you happy. What’s something you feel like you were born to do? Forget all the BS about what others think, how hard it will be to get to your dreams, or the lies you tell yourself like “that’s just not me”. If you feel it inside of you, it’s just knocking to come out and show the world.

We aren’t all perfect. We make mistakes, we waste some days, and strike out over and over again, but don’t give up. The water is there for you. It is not taken away because you aren’t doing the “right” things, not taking the “rights” steps, not going the “right” way, or you aren’t the “right” person. You are a beautiful human whose heart is beating for a reason. Find that reason and drink your water.

#LevelUp

Thank you for reading this. ❤ I believe in you.

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