Stepping Off The Treadmill Called Life and Start Living in Costa Rica!
Are you one of those truly fortunate people who can genuinely, without a word of a lie, say that you’re totally, 100% happy with your lot in life? From the second you open your eyes in the morning until you close them again at night.
Happiness — it’s a noun that means ‘the state of being happy’. It’s also one of those things that humans in general aspire to but relatively few can truly, genuinely say they’ve achieved in a lasting meaningful way. I’m not talking about superficial happiness or the kind of happiness, important though it undoubtedly is, that you get from being able to look at your life and say that, ‘in general’ you’re OK with how its panning out. You have a great partner, a great house, a great family and generally a great life BUT ….. If only you didn’t have to spend so much of your waking time living a not so great life in order to maintain it all.
I think this is a conundrum that eventually afflicts most of us — we get so caught up on the treadmill of life and our responsibilities that we don’t know how to get off or we think it isn’t possible to get off.
Our lives, on the whole, are wired to accept responsibility, which is not in and of itself a bad thing. It is important to accept responsibility for the choices we make in life, particularly when other lives depend on us behaving responsibly. Invariably though we’re often taught from a very young age that responsibility equals earning money and that one of the most important things we have to do in life is earn it, often at the expense of being really, truly happy.
We’re taught that material possessions matter, that having the wherewithal to acquire them matters and if you have to sacrifice other parts of your life to achieve them, that’s just ‘life’. Harry Chapin’s song “Cats in the Cradle” sums up the extremes of this quite aptly.
All of which is great – if you’re one of the truly fortunate people who happen to find a way of doing that which truly makes you happy. The reality though is that many of us are not that lucky. We spend the vast majority of our waking hours doing things out of a sense of responsibility that’s been drummed into us from birth, not because we particularly want to be doing them.
For most of us, that leaves us with very little time to actually enjoy the fruits of our labour. Or to really truly enjoy life either when it comes right down to it. Our lives become a monotonous routine of ‘get up, go to work, come home, maybe get to spend a few precious moments doing something, anything, we really enjoy before it’s time to hit the sack again only to wake up in 6 or 7 hours, rinse and repeat’.
That’s if we let it….
These days we do increasingly have a choice. The internet has made many things possible, amongst them the freedom to be able to earn those pesky $$s that make the world go round from pretty much anywhere in said world, doing a wide range of things.
Gone are the days of ‘having’ to trundle off to a 9 — 5’er because you had no other options, wishing all the while that you could earn your way in life doing something that actually interests you. All it takes is a little ingenuity, a dash of courage and a large dose of determination and intestinal fortitude.
Elizabeth Gilbert penned it beautifully in Eat, Pray, Love – “Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be.” Loosely translated, if you want a better life and quality of life then you need to do something more than ‘wish’ because chances are slim to none that someone else is going to do it for you. It’s like that old saying – If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
The road to a better life is certainly paved with good intentions. The trick is to turn those ‘good intentions’ into positive actions. Granted, it isn’t always easy because of those ‘responsibilities’ that have tied us down for so long, many of which regrettably revolve around finances. It does take work, it does take a leap of faith, it does take a lot of personal effort to change the habits of a lifetime. But, if you want it enough, the rewards truly will far outweigh the consequences.
Take your life as you currently know it and give it a good shake. Work out what it is you really, truly want to be doing with your life and then go for it. Picture yourself doing whatever ‘it’ is – trading in the suit and tie for shorts and a t’shirt perhaps, where your daily commute is a mere couple of strides and you can choose when to do it and for how long.
Sun, surf and waves on a beach in Costa Rica if that’s your ‘thing’; permanently, every day, 365 days of the year if you so choose. Believe you will live your dream, live like you will be living your dream and never think for an instant that you will be doing anything else, consciously focus on what it will take to get there and you’ll find you’re a big part of the way there. All that remains is to take the leap of faith and DO it.
And if it’s about money – make your fiscal responsibilities fit in with what you want to do, not the other way around. Find a way to earn whatever $$s you need to meet your responsibilities doing what you want to do. Make those activities revolve around your desired life style instead of allowing your life to revolve around them.
Ultimately, money in and of itself has no absolute value. What makes it valuable is what it can buy so come to terms with just what you want/need money for. What does it need to buy in your life? Sure, it can buy material possessions and it can buy you better life style choices and freedom from the treadmill of life but you have to make sure that’s what it does. Don’t get so tied down to the ‘earning’ bit that you lose sight of the reasons why you’re earning it in the first place.
You have to consciously say OK, this is where the treadmill stops and I get off. This is where what I’ve earned so far in life starts to buy me what I’ve been earning it for. Don’t get to the closing chapters of your life and suddenly realise that you’ve been so busy earning the money to buy yourself better lifestyle choices that you’ve never actually gotten around to purchasing them.
And once you’ve stepped off the treadmill, make a determined effort to stay off it. It may not always be easy, especially in the beginning but always remember — we only have one life so make it a good one. Remind yourself always that ultimately it’s happiness and finding the quality of life that truly achieves this for you that really matters. It may well mean making a few adjustments along the way but believe me, it’s well worth it.
Again, to quote Elizabeth Gilbert — “Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.” ? Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love.
Stepping Off The Treadmill Called Life and Start Living in Costa Rica!
Stepping Off The Treadmill Called Life and Start Living in Costa Rica!
Article/Property ID Number 4965
Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.
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