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Starting life at 28

To be honest I have no idea how this is going to play out 6 months, a year, 20 years, 40 years from now...  What I do know is that brain cancer as of today has been the best thing that has happened to me.  Yes it is hard as fuck and there are times where my body feels like it is rejecting itself from the inside out, but it is a small price to pay for inspiration.  I just turned 28 and it took me that long for my life to begin.  Up until now, I have been floating from stop-gap to stop-gap.  I never had any direction and everyday I woke more and more frustrated with myself.  I have surrounded myself with great people of all walks of life from CEO's of multi-million dollar companies, professional athletes, inspiring philanthropists and humanitarians, amazing artists of all walks, and countless driven individuals with direction.  I on the other hand have been passing time trying to figure out what the hell I am doing with my life.  Going from job to job not knowing where I am headed, just knowing I need money to pay my bills.  It is the most frustrating and depressing thing to KNOW that deep down you are meant for something much bigger than what you are doing.  I knew I had a purpose and I spent countless hours trying to figure out where my place in the crazy world is an now I have my answer.

Today is day one of my new life.  For the first time in a very long time I finally know where I want my life to end up.  I have direction, purpose, inspiration, drive and motivation...  The one thing I might not have is time and that in itself is even more motivation.  I have never had a clear path nor a smidgen of an idea of what I wanted to do with my life.  It is now clear as crystal where I want, no need my life to go.  I have learned, grown, matured, and had countless epiphanies over that past 4+ months that I can no longer hide from my future.  Going forward my life will consist of a few basic yet direct principles and missions.  The top of this list is going to be being happy.

It is strange to me that I can say something as basic as the most important and guiding principle in my life going forward will be to be happy.  I feel like everyone should live by this simple guideline, yet so many of us fall into lives that we truly don't enjoy.  Routine becomes habit and habit becomes familiar and familiar is safe.  We like safe, we like security and people for the most part are afraid of things that are not guaranteed.  I am at a point where I am not guaranteed too much other than right now and so this alleviates a lot of fear that most people let hold them back. As of today I have a new mission in life and that is to help people be happy.  This is what makes me happy and with some help from you guys we can do this together and I think you will see why helping others live happy will make you happy.

I am in the process of setting some things up that will shape and direct my life going forward, there are going to be some major changes and step one was simplifying my life.  I started this yesterday by literally cutting my possessions in half.  I didn't have too much stuff to begin with, but I had a lot of stuff that I didn't need that maybe someone else can benefit from.  I know all of you can do quite well doing this in your lives.  I made a rule and stuck to it with the only exceptions being nostalgic memories.  The rule was simple, if I hadn't used it in the last 2 years, it was gone.  After a couple hours, my bedroom was nearly empty including a completely empty dresser.  I will be sharing the next few parts of my new life going forward in due time, and I will be calling upon some of you for your help.  You have all helped me tremendously already, and I hope I have not yet worn out my welcome.

"Find happiness in simplicity, find chaos in greed."

FTGF,
Ryan
xo

Comments

  1. Awesome. I've been meeting with friends once a month to talk about this book The Happiness Project, and cleaning everything out is the author's first step in the process. Gotta clear the house to clear the mind, I guess. Thanks for the inspiration and the much-needed reminders.

    I wish you the best with fulfilling your goal of helping other people be happy! I think you've already gotten a big head start on that.

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  2. A mutual friend of ours turned me onto this blog. Though we've never met, I had to comment and say how truly amazing & inspirational your outlook and fighting spirit are to me.

    Unfortunately, most of us have had our lives impacted by this terrible disease, but the way you've decided to battle it head-on is incredible. I know you'll continue to fight the good fight, and you'll be in my prayers.

    We as humans have a way of taking most of the amazing things this life gives us for granted. Your words have been an excellent reminder to me, and I'm sure everyone who has read them, to remember what's really important. Thank you & best of luck.

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