LYOL [live your own life]
I recently heard an expression called HYOH [hike your own hike] by a human from Colorado @the.worried.wanderer and it hit me like a ton of bricks. “Each hiker is out there for their own reasons, and will have their own experience, so find your purpose and what works for you, and let others do the same.” This is exactly what I stand for. So, I adapted this sentiment to LYOL - live your own life. It’s a reminder that no one else is me and no one else can actually live my life, except me. So why not hop in my lane and get after it in the way that best works for me. Not everyone will know or understand what works for me or what I need or what I want. And that is ok.
I recently read Flying Lead Change by Kelly Wendorf, have been consuming hours of Rich Roll and Joe Rogan podcasts (dude you MUST listen to the Jewel episode now!), and watching the 100 Foot Wave docu-series, and I am inspired as hell by these people who have a focus that is so unbelievably unmovable. Their approach to their lives live on a plane all its own. Away from the noise of the everyday grind. Deeply saturated in the knowing of existence and aliveness. I want to live here. In my own version. In my own life. The life and gifts of this body, in this lifetime. Even if they don’t totally make sense to anyone else.
Truthfully, my mind still fights it. Keeps it at arms length if I am on auto-pilot. My habit body naturally addresses the external world vs my internal world. Martha Beck names this inner contrast our “essential self” and our “social self”. Most of us live with our social self taking the lead - the part of us that is more concerned with keeping us in line with the external world. The part that is quite willing to self-sabotage our inner beingness in order to keep us “safe” and help us to not get rejected. But our soul’s cannot live that way. Well, unfortunately, we actually can live an annoyingly long time that way, but it eventually catches up with us because it isn’t really living. Living for others becomes a short-term dream with a long-term imprisonment. This is not how we LYOL!! This is how we die with regret.
We are meant to live from our essential self. From our soul. From our innate bigness. And then allow our social self to support us as a partner in navigating the external world. We are meant to find our lane, our path, our way, our gifts, our weirdness, our pain, our essence, our aliveness. We are meant to learn how to hold all that rawness in a way that can eventually connect and relate with the humanness of others. We are meant to find our own reasons, values, have our own experiences, learnings, and find our own evolving purpose and way of living that works for us, and let others do the same.
The energy of this way of living almost feels super natural. Not in the sense that it is out of this world, but that it is so deeply of this world that the only way in is to truly be here as yourself, in your body, in this moment, no matter where that is. I want to live here. I want you to live here. I want us to live here. Feeling the ecstasy of this place we call here and now.
What happens when we allow ourselves to fall deeply into our own lives? What happens when we go super natural? What happens when we live our own lives? This is the magical mystery. First though, we need deeper commitment. When we release the physical analytical game and fully surrender, lean, melt into the natural. Our natural existence. The organic moment. The juice of aliveness. Then, we get to see what unfolds for each of us here. Are you ready? Will you practice leaning in (because sometimes it takes practice since this conceptually makes sense, but somatically can be a massive fucking hurdle)? Will you let yourself discovery the place within yourself that is unmatched by anything the external world has to offer? Because when you get there, I promise you we will meet each other differently. To dive inward is how we actually connect more deeply. To this life. To each other. To this moment. To creativity and possibility and reality and aliveness. To innovation. To love. To go inward is to be MORE connected and alive, here and now.
As we do this exploration alongside each other, we realize that we can only live our own lives, and others can only live theirs, but damnit we can cheer each other on along the way!
I see you. I am seen by you. We are here. Together. From the inside out. Live Your Own Life so that you can allow others the same respect. Sink into it. Trust the siren song of your life, allow it to lure you into true reality. The reality of your skin and bones and soul. That’s the ultimate destination. The destination back to this moment, in this body, in this lifetime, with this group of humans around us. The internal super natural realm of existence. Of infinite possibilities. It’s magnetic. It’s life. It’s pure. It’s me. It’s you. It’s us.
