Just Be

One day as I was roaming the various bookstores of Murfreesboro, I came across a very intriguing book, This Book Will Change Your Life. Written by Benrik (combination of the "mentors" of the book, Ben and Henrik) and seemingly silly, I chose to take a chance on this bargain priced book and see if it would uphold its promise to change my life. I decided to wait until my 25th birthday to begin my adventure with the book. Partly because it would be easier to keep up and mostly because I would be starting a new chapter in my life of post-graduate adulthood.

This book drew me towards it because of the complacency and mundanity I had begun to experience in my daily routine. I eat, I sleep, I work at Plato's and occasionally I throw in a hang out with friends, a visit to family or another random act. I began to feel as if I wasn't living at my fullest capacity and I was becoming too zombie-like for my taste. I decided to use this book as a jumping off point of shaking things up a bit.

I am genuinely happy with all circumstances of my life and I am very blessed to be where I am at today, but I don't want to just live a nice quiet life. I want to go on an adventure. I like my current job, but it is by no means a permanent choice. I yearn for a vocation that allows me to help others in a meaningful way and causes me to feel excited and passionate about my profession. I want to want to go to work.

I also like Tennessee a lot and it will always be my home, but I need a change of scenery. I want to live in a big city, see the country, see the world and experience different cultures.

I plan to take my ordinary circumstances and make them extraordinary by living life to the fullest. I firmly believe that all my dreams stated above are highly probable, but I need to take initiative and step out of my complacency. This book is the tool to help me do just that.

I have only done 4 of the 365 daily tasks so far and they have been silly, challenging and inspiring. I can only anxiously await the remaining days arrival and the adventures they bring. One day asked me to throw something away that I liked. That was really hard to do and I stood back and really saw how many things I hang onto that are superficial and serve absolutely no purpose. I own a superfluous amount of clothing, shoes, entertainment, etc. The task really made me aware of how materialistic I am.

Today's task had me color in a map of countries I have visited, will visit this year, wish to visit and wish to never set foot in. It was humbling to see how many countries were colored in yellow (representing want to visit) in comparison to the 3 colored green (representing visited). I always say I want to travel the world, but I also always say I will when I have money, when I have time or when I am older. Why not now? I decided to live more spontaneously and if a trip arises to take it and never look back. Although it wasn't out of the country, I traveled to D.C. this fall on a whim. Jon Stuart and Stephen Colbert were holding a rally and I decided to use every last penny in my bank account and go on an adventure. It was beyond worth it and one of the best trips I have ever taken.

I hope this book does change my life and I can look back on my 26th birthday and laugh at the crazy things I did and saw. I'm not going to post for every day (that would be too crazy) but I am going to write about the interesting, hilarious or just plain weird tasks required from this book. I hope it is entertaining and maybe, just maybe, it will change your life as well.

In closing, my motto for this year is to be daring, to be spontaneous and to just be.