5 Ways You’re Throwing Your Life Away

In The Beginning

What is it they say? You only get one life so make the most of it? When I was younger I use to laugh at such saying mainly because I was young and dumb, selfishly thinking I would stay young, that I would never grow up, that I would live to walk the Earth forever, that it will never end (sounds familiar right?)

But how I was so wrong.

As biology would have it, and to much of my surprise, it seemed that each time the Earth rotated with the rise and fall of the sun and the seasons changed I got older and older.

Who would’ve thought

Before I knew it, I went from a fresh, young 18 year old with the world in his hands and endless possibilities to a not so young 28 year old who’s wondering where the last 10 years have gone and reflecting on what he’s achieved.

When they say “You only get one life so make the most of it” they forget to mention how fast it goes as well.

As I continue to get older, maybe a little wiser, I have learnt to value my life more and make the most of the time I have on this Earth.

Because we do only get one try at it, it isn’t like a video game where we have multiple lives to try and try again, once the health bar runs out that’s it, game over.

As I continue to get older, maybe a little wiser, I’ve started to pay attention to not only my mind and body but also to the people and environment around me.

 A lot of people spend their life just merely watching the clock hands pass them by rather than making the most of the short time they have left.

Younger people are especially guilty of this, but even the slightly older and even older are as well.

If ever there was a time to lay a strong foundation, it’s right now! Yet a lot of us don’t do that.

People spend a lot their time partying, not looking after their health, taking holidays and focusing on short term gratification rather than reading, building new skill sets, building healthy habits, and investing in themselves.

Are you just watching the clock hands pass you by instead of making the most of the life you have? Here are some ways to tell.

Stuck In The Middle

You stay in bed too long

When the alarm sounds and you roll over to fidget on your phone, to scroll your social media feeds for 30 minutes to an hour before lifting the sheets, sorry, you’re not making the most of your life.

This was me for a very long time, but it wasn’t healthy for my mindset

People who don’t have a meaning or purpose in their life spend time relaxing in bed on their phone living their life through what they see on a feed. Waking up is no big deal, just the start of another mundane day that starts at 9 and finishes at 5.

To someone with a meaning or purpose, they wake up every morning refreshed, they don’t check their phone, they check their goals and welcome another day of opportunity and hard work.

Spending too much time on pointless activities.

Some activities like watching Netflix, scrolling social media or playing video games are pointless, we only do them because they are satisfying in the moment, we get that dopamine rush.

But there needs to be control with these activities, too much of a good thing can be bad for you.

By spending a couple of hours, these activities will help you relax, regroup and decompress from life’s stresses.

The more and more time you spend on pointless activities takes you beyond ‘decompressing’ into ‘wasting your life.’

People with a purpose don’t spend too long doing pointless activities because they are aware that every second, minute, hour sucked away is more and more time they will never get back.

It’s not that they don’t like doing these things, people with a purpose value their time and the thought of wasting that much time makes them extremely uncomfortable.

Not ready for bed at the end of the day

People whose days are filled with purposeful activities are beat, exhausted, tired and drained both physically and mentally at the end of the day.

This is because they have spent the entire day focusing all their energy and efforts into their goals, aspirations, and passions to live a life that will fulfill them.

On the flip side, when you aren’t making the most of your life, you aren’t truthfully tired at the end of the day, you’re tired because of your laziness to not find and pursue your purpose in life.

You’re not making the most of your energy, you allow it to become smothered in comfort, which allowed for too long, may become so heavy you can’t lift it.

More planning, less doing

Planning is a big part of any strategy, but If you spend more of your time planning, thinking, wishing, praying or even daydreaming about the future instead of working to make that dream a reality, then you’re not making the most of your life.

You can plan and think all you want, but that only leads to paralysis by analysis then all of a sudden you’re wondering why nothings happened.

No plan works unless it’s executed.

People who make something of themselves don’t sit around all the time just planning, thinking, wishing or praying about what life and future they want.

They work hard then load their dream gun with a plan disguised as bullets and they don’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

If they miss the target, they reload, take aim and fire again and again until they hit their target.

Someone who spends all their time planning is not someone who spends all their time doing.

You worry what others think of you

As people, we are compelled to be accepted into a community of like-minded individuals, it’s in our biology, we need it for our survival.

But we often spend too much time trying to fit into the wrong community, we lose our identities to what other people want us to be and therefore waste our lives being someone we’re not.

And being someone we’re not has no purpose.

People with a purpose are too busy working on themselves and their goals, they’re too busy getting things done to give a thought about what others think of them.

They understand that by being themselves, the real them, by being a misfit and not trying to fit in is the secret to attracting the right community that pushes them towards living a fulfilling life.

Just be you, it’s so much easier.

If you constantly stress about what your friends, family, peers, or pop culture thing, you’re letting your life slip away from you because you’re either trying to be someone you’re not.

Instead of doing what others approve of, find a purpose that you can call home for when the world turns against you.

This is The End

The biggest killer in this world, out of all the diseases, murderers, natural disasters, unexplained mysteries and bad luck is regret.

“I regret not taking that risk”. “I regret not doing what I love” “I regret making these mistakes” “I regret my university degree” — ok I’ll stop, you know what I mean.

Any of those sound familiar? Regret; it’s a pesky beast, born as a result of not finding a purpose in life, clawing at you every day, reminding you that you’re throwing your life away, getting stronger each day you don’t do anything about it.

Life is precious, it’s true, we only get one shot at it and it ends just as fast as it begins.

So stop throwing your life away on the things that stop you from living, that stop you living the life you want and make the most of it.