How to Live Before You Die

This morning I woke up not feeling very amazing.

I’m worn out mentally, I’m exhausted emotionally and I’m dead tired physically.

When I popped on my computer this morning I had no idea what I would be writing for today’s blog, but after a week of not writing I knew I had to.

I started by signing in to Facebook and then HootSuite. Normally, my HootSuite signs me in automatically but today it went in to the login page, my information was in the spaces provided but it just wasn’t signing me in. Before I clicked on the login button I noticed a familiar icon. It was the icon for TED, an amazing site of speeches given by some pretty incredible people.

In the past I have seen some phenomenal talks on this site, including one by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) which pulled me from a previous rut. Knowing how unmotivated and tired I’ve been lately drew me back to the TED site where I began reading through a bunch of names of people I didn’t know. Then I stumbled upon a familiar name…Steve Jobs…creator of MAC and Pixar.

I was curious to hear him speak because, up until this point, I had never seen him in an interview or really paid him much attention (I’m a PCer). So, I clicked on the icon and began listening to his speech to the 2005 graduating class from Stanford University.

Someone must have directed me to this video this morning because everything Steve Jobs said was everything I have been thinking and feeling lately.

His stories were funny, heart breaking and inspiring but a few things really stuck with me.

“You can’t connect the dots to the future.”

Humans, and myself in particular, are always trying to plan the “dots” that will get us where we want to be in life. Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to see in to the future so the only way we can connect the dots is if we look backwards. The way we move forwards in life is following our hearts, our gut and our intuition…this is something I have been fighting for a long while now.

“Fall in-love”

Romantic love is amazing. I am fortunate to have this in my life. However, Steve Jobs wasn’t referring to romantic love (although he was thrilled about his wife and family), he was talking about falling in-love with what you do.

I have said for years that I didn’t understand why people worked at a job that they hated. This has lead me to a constant rotating door of “careers” that I tried, hoping to find the right fit for me. What I found was that I am not in-love with my day job…I never have been and I’m not sure I ever will be. Thankfully I did fall in-love…with writing.

“Your time is limited…so don’t waste it by living someone else’s life!”

The most powerful line in this awesome speech was this one. It sums up how I feel for myself and for everyone I know and love. It’s the hardest one to live because, for people like me, it may lead to a bit of insecurity that is extremely uncomfortable…at first. Still, this one phrase speaks truth. We are all going to die, we don’t know when or how, so we need to be living our own lives, not the life that someone else decided for us. We all have our own desires and passions and there is no reason we shouldn’t go after them. Some of us may be afraid of hurting people along the way but the truth is, people who know your heart and truly love and respect you will understand that you need to reach for your passions, stop living to make someone else’s dreams come true and find a life that is completely yours. These will be your true friends and those who are hurt or angered by your decision to better your life aren’t.

I’m still worn out mentally, exhausted emotionally and tired physically but I feel a little more clear on my path moving forward. I can’t connect the dots because it is impossible to do that unless I look back but I can follow that intuitive voice that seems to scream at me “LIVE BEFORE YOU DIE!”.

Here is Steve Jobs’ Speech…let me know what you think.