Live For The Moment

It’s all about the journey, not the destination

Since I became a digital nomad, the one thing that it has consistently given me is life lessons. I started to understand what it was that made me happy and stopped chasing a dream that I had as a younger man when I realised that it wasn’t who I was anymore. I used to fantasise about having a big mansion and a red Ferrari parked in front of it, but I changed my mind after talking to friends who actually have these things. I saw that it never lived up to the expectation for them and it actually left them feeling hollow instead.

Stop chasing perfection and just enjoy the journey

By all means, try to improve your life as much as possible, I would 100% advocate that, but not at the expense of missing out on the moment. If your idea of success is how big your bank balance is then you’ll never be truly happy. Money is numbers and numbers never end. If it takes money for you to be happy then your search for happiness will never end. 

Travelling and memories

‘Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.’

I think this is extremely important. I’ve been very lucky to travel to some fantastic places with the people I love; I’ve spent quality time with them, made memories with them, and I’ve met new people and had amazing adventures with them too. It rekindles your faith in humanity and reinvigorates you when you see how generous and amazing people really can be. I think that as you get older and wiser you realise that travelling and experiencing other cultures and ways of life is more enriching than a Ferrari sat on your driveway. It doesn’t matter if the watch on your wrist costs £20 or £20,000 - it still tells you the time. What difference does it make if you drink a £40 bottle of champagne or a £4,000 bottle - the hangover is still the same!

True happiness comes from shared experiences with mates, partners, brothers and sisters, close family and extended families. These people that you laugh, dance, sing and drink with are what make life special. Travelling has brought me so much of this and I always come back having learned something and eager to know and do more.

New generation of youngsters - Millennials

It pains me to write about this one, but I find the lack of get-up-and-go and disrespect to elders in millennials to be truly heart-breaking. Social media and the internet have created a culture of instant gratification, so if they are made to fight for something, like a place in a football team for example, they have no interest in sticking around to fight for their place, they want it all on a plate and done for them. Don’t get me wrong, the internet has made me a lot of money, but the way this digital era has killed personal friendships and had a lasting damaging effect on our social skills is upsetting. 

Millennials are classed to be the generation born after 1984. They are deemed tough to manage and have been accused of being entitled, of suffering from delusions of grandeur, if you will. They expect to be entitled to something without doing the hard work for it. In psychiatry, the term ‘sense of entitlement’ is used to describe the outrageous attitudes of some narcissistic people who believe that the world owes them and they intend to collect NOW.

Why Millennials are different

So why do the younger generation feel and act like this? Is it because they’ve been raised to believe they can be anything they want to be? Were they not instilled with a work ethic and told that if they wanted something they had to graft for it? I think the thing for me is they have not learned to appreciate what they have around them and knowing that being humble and appreciative for what you have is the key to a happy life. If they are determined to be narcissistic they are destined to remain unfilled, and that’s a sad thing to see. 

Words to live by

I believe that if you work hard you’ll create your own luck, I don’t believe people are just inherently lucky. For every person who sits watching tv there is a person working hard to make something of themselves. Here are a few mantras that I try to live by;

1. Don’t educate your children to be rich, educate them to be happy so that when they grow up they will know the value of things, not the prices.
2. ‘Eat your food as your medicines otherwise, you’ll have to eat your medicines as food’.
3. The One who loves you will never leave you because even if there are 100 reasons to give up, they will find one reason to hold on.
4. There is a big difference between a human being and being human.
5. If you are loved when you are born you will be loved when you die. It’s the in between bit you have to manage!
6. If you want to walk fast, walk alone, but if you want to walk far, walk together.
7. The only guarantee in life is death, so live each day as if it were your last.

Time is the best present

The most valuable present I could offer anyone is my time. I know you can’t wrap that up and put a bow on it for Christmas, but I would rather spend time with someone and make a memory out of that time than have or receive an expensive generic gift. Funnily, at work it’s the exact opposite; I want to save as much time as I can and delegate as much as possible. Father Time waits for no one, so enjoy the time you have and make as many memories as you can.

Fear of Death

As morbid as this may sound, when it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go. You may be young and full of life, you may be elderly and frail - however death comes to you, the point is to have lived life to the full before it happens. Tragedies and sad stories are uncomfortable to hear, but they can also be used as a catalyst for you to go and make the most of your own life. Hold no regrets, say ‘yes’ more often and fill your memory bank up today - because tomorrow may never come. Here’s a line from a poem that I find inspirational;

‘Death leaves a heartache no-one can heal, Love leaves a memory no-one can steal.’

I’ve always thought that when I got to my death-bed I’d like to be able to look back and think that I had done everything that I wanted to do. I may not have got everything right but at least I could say that I didn’t leave anything untried. Work hard, create memories and live a fulfilling life.

Health is Wealth

Be kind to your body - you’re gonna need it. That Baz Luhrmann song, ‘Sunscreen’ from 1997 says it all (have a listen if you’ve never heard of it). Look after your health; exercise, watch what you eat, rest, treat your skin with respect, network and synergise and make time for your friends. All of these things combined will keep you in great shape for being the best you that you can possibly be. As we get older and joints begin to creak and hair disappears at a rate of knots, it’s important to remember that these are only physical traits. Staying young at heart is what truly matters and enjoying life’s journey will keep you forever young.