Life, the Universe and Everything -- Day 38

I have been looking forward to this particular birthday for a very long time. For those of you that don’t get why, I encourage you to read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams.  It would take far too long for me to explain the significance in an eloquent way, so suffice it to say that the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is 42.

Little did I know that when I reached that magical number in my life, I will have understood the meaning so much better!

This latest adventure is just another chapter in the much larger epic that has been my life. Each experience teaching important things, shaping my worldview, and making me the person that I am today. The path that I am on has been daunting, and exhilarating, and magical, and depressing, and wonderful, and frustrating, and ultimately mine alone.

Here’s some of what works for me:

1. There are no mistakes.  Everything in life boils down to choices. Should I eat this? Should I go there? Should I say that? Every choice that we make shapes the world that we live in. Sometimes I make a choice that has consequences that make me uncomfortable, and I wish I could go back and make a different choice. But if I had made a different choice, I’d be a different person. I like who I am.
2. Perception is reality. I’m not breaking any new ground here, but this concept has a real depth of meaning for me. I have seen firsthand the difference in how I am treated based on what people know (or at least perceive) about me. But it is so much deeper than that! The geopolitical landscape, our entire Western culture is shaped by master manipulators that work on the public perception to influence the flow of global power. **puts tin foil hat away** But seriously, there are a lot of things that we accept as fact that are just concepts that we have been taught and accept as true.
3. Love yourself. Do no accept the external message that we are presented with on all sides about who and how you should be/act/do/say. You are the only one that can make choices for you. You are the only one that can determine what is right or wrong for you. You are the only one that can effectively change your circumstances. Love yourself enough to make choices that are going to make you happy within yourself. When you are making the choice to be happy, you are changing your perception/reality to one that is happy and you will have a much better life.
4. Time is meaningless. I used to rush around from appointment to appointment, trying to maximize my time, my work, my money = my life. Then I experienced spending five minutes with the most amazing person and it felt like hours, and I sat through an amazing epic movie and it felt like it was over in minutes. The passage of time is related to our perception, and that perception becomes reality. So rather than rushing around and feeling like I was always running out of time, I made the choice to enjoy the moments of my life. The individual scenarios and scenes that made up my epic saga. I began choosing those moments over the need for fancier toys, or a nicer car. We still only have the same number of years on this earth, but you can choose to spend them in a way that makes you happy.

One of the most common comments that I hear from people when I tell them that we are living full-time in an RV and travelling around is, “Man, I wish I could do that.”  Do you? Do you really? Because I am betting that if you really wanted to, you could. I didn’t think that we could do it, and I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, but I can tell that I’m the happiest that I’ve ever been in my life. I feel more freedom and excitement every day when I wake up than ever before. Make the choices that make you happy, spend your years wisely. Change your perception, change your world.

See you on the road.