“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
Steve Jobs
Since we returned back to the United States after our year abroad, I’ve been at a loss for words. I’ve had so much circulating around inside and yet, I’ve hesitated to share. I write and then I delete. I write more and then walk away and ponder my thoughts. I put pieces together each day and yet still feel unsure and unclear about this vacillation.
Today, many of you shared a brilliant video entitled, Look Up, written and directed by Gary Turk. If you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to take a look. He poignantly and poetically delivers an important message to this social media generation of ours, in 4 minutes. Many are inspired and taking a look at themselves. Many are calling him judgmental and hypocritical.
I am inspired. Thank you, Gary for giving me the inspiration I needed to complete this piece I’ve been working on for some time. Your message communicated everything I felt but couldn’t articulate.
As I live my life, my days are filled with love, laughter, moments of joy and sadness, a desire to learn all I can and a passion to grow beyond anything I have imagined…
I contemplate many questions about life and people as I continue on this path to unity and freedom from the ties and boundaries we build for ourselves. At 41 years old, I am choosing to care more about the peace within myself than the peace I thought I was bringing to others by putting theirs before my own.
The social media infiltrated world we are currently living in creates many amazing avenues and miracles each day. It allows us to connect with people across the world and we are fortunate enough to witness and participate in ways we never could before.
Although I’m thankful and aware of the many advantages, I’m often considering the presence of this engine in our lives on the opposing side. I believe many people put their best faces forward, showcasing their perfect marriages, children, careers, and the contrived perception they may or may not believe as reality.
As observers, many can’t decipher what is real and I often wonder how it affects the discernment of their own lives. Do they compare themselves? Do they feel less than? This constant show and tell leaves us wondering if what we have to share is worthy or extraordinary enough to stand out amongst the dramatic light displays exploding above and around us on a daily basis.
These are a few of the questions I speculate as I consider what holds me back from expressing myself fully. I also believe that this constant entity in our lives truly takes away from the presence and attention we give to our actual ones.
I’ve accomplished and experienced many things in my lifetime thus far which I am very proud of. Each and every experience and person I’ve crossed paths with has helped me become the woman I am today. I want to share in my exploration through this life as I find answers and continue to grow. These are the meaningful things I believe we all learn from as we each share our discoveries along the way.
The world is filled with positive and negative. Love and Hate. Support and Judgement. Fear and Fearlessness. In life, while you are standing in one, you will most likely witness the reflection of the other in some form. It could be a friend, family member or comments scrolling in your news feed. However you may experience that negative side, it exists and for good reason…I am discovering.
I’ve always believed that the true friends and family in my life are the people who respect me and want the best for me, as I do for them. They support me, believe in me and want me to truly shine and live an authentic life. I’m often confronted with the opposite and I never really understood why. I also used to spend so much time questioning why they didn’t like me, why they judged me, why they didn’t take the time to communicate honestly and why, why why….
I’m finally realizing what a depletion of my health and energy this has caused. I am finally free to be me. Thank you for representing the force I needed to confront. Thank you for liberating me from such contention and disharmony. Thank you for showing me how to find light in darkness. Peace through tribulation. Love through everything.
I needed to express this and I shall continue living my life, raising our children and writing my words, with the uninhibited spirit and fortitude I was born with.
Thank you.
Little excerpt from Look Up:
“Look up from your phone, shut down those displays. We have a finite existence, a set number of days.
Don’t waste your life getting caught in the net, because when the end of your life comes, there’s nothing worse than regret.
Don’t give into a life where you follow the hype, give people your love, don’t give them your like. Disconnect from the need to be heard and defined.
“Look up from your phone, shut down the display, take in your surroundings and make the most of today.”
gary turk
♥️ Sandy
