What’s it to ya?

Did I Live? Did I Love? Did I Matter?

— Brendon Burchard

Brendon Burchard is one of my favorite speakers. In fact, he caught me the moment he said those three statements above. These are the things we ask ourselves at the end of life, but more importantly, hopefully they’re the same questions we ask of ourselves right now as we engage in our daily lives. We ask:

Am I Living?

That’s right, am I honoring my unique gift to the world? When I wake up with a full day ahead of me, am I doing the work that I enjoy? Am I engaged in my relationships with family and friends? Do I take time to see what’s out there in this wonderful world of ours?
Or …
am I working at a job waiting for life to begin. Am I holding out for the next thing that will somehow make me feel better? Have I secluded myself to merely being alive, but not really living? If so, why is this the case for me? What have I decided to believe that has caused me to slink away and stand in life’s shadow? … Am I living?

Am I Loving?

This is where we get to ask ourselves, am I a loving person? Do I show people in my world my love, care, and authentic self? Do I engage in the things that really matter to me? Do I make time for the most important people and activities to me? Do I love myself? Would I be friends with myself if I weren’t me? Sometimes that’s a hard question to stomach. We’re pretty hard on ourselves, aren’t we? That’s okay, you can still forgive yourself for being so critical and simply let it go. You know what happens when you let that critical self go? You allow others to be more of who they are. You feel better in the world and everyone around you breathes a little easier knowing we can all just be who we are.

Do I Matter?

Am I of value to this world? We ask ourselves if we’ve found what it is we are deeply passionate about and pair it with what we hope to deliver to the world. This is like our legacy. What will we leave behind? Not material things or even words, but how will we have made people feel as a result of being here? Did we do our part to “make a difference”. Did we stand up for what we believe, fight for someone in trouble, believe in the hopes and dreams of another? Am I doing something significant enough with my life that matters.

“The days are long but the years are short.”

–Gretchen Rubin

Often times, the answers to these questions, when put in the present context are difficult to stomach. Why? Because we think “someday” will never come. I read in a book by Gretchen Rubin recently that “The days are long but the years are short.” This gives us a false premise that we’ve got forever to figure it all out. We spend years at jobs just waiting for something else to happen so that finally we can live. We engage in mindless work while we dream of inspiring and nurturing our incredible gifts in this world. Why? Because we don’t know how, we don’t believe, and sometimes we want it so bad that it’s scary.

So today, dare to ask yourself these three questions, so that when “someday” comes and you ask yourself, “Did I live? Did I love? and Did I matter? There won’t be a doubt in your mind that you did it all. This life is meant to be fun. We’re meant to embark on exciting journeys and to celebrate each other. We are meant to love life, love each other, and make a difference.

No matter where you are in life right now, no matter your answers to the questions above, know this much, you make a difference to the world. YOU MATTER just as you are. Go forth, turn your dreams into reality, nurture your friendships, appreciate your family, and love yourself.

You matter, you always have, you always will…

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