2021 AND BEYOND — TAKE A DEEP BREATH & MOVE FORWARD WITH STYLE & GRACE
By Vincent Lyn
A couple of lines from Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.
“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is”.
I have to pinch myself every day, such is the fortune and privilege (love, security, health) I ended the year 2020 with. But I do think often about what others no longer have. That includes the nearly 2 million global citizens who have lost their lives to the virus.
A lot has changed — from eating at restaurants and traveling by plane to just hugging a loved one. New routines for health safety have transformed our daily lives. That doesn’t take into account how we bounce back psychologically, socially and economically in the long term.
“We have millions of children who have missed school. We have tens of millions of Americans out of work. We have millions of businesses that have permanently closed. We have borrowed tons of money. We have rejiggered our lives, and to unwind a lot of those things and cope with them will take time. We can’t go back and with how 2020 turned out, going down as one of the worst years in modern history who would want to? But moving forward have we learned anything and with that new found knowledge what will we do with it. Let me put it another way. If from now on we always have to wear a face mask in public would that be such a bad thing? When car seat belts were introduced people didn’t want to wear them. Flying planes after 9/11, shoes off, belt off, thorough screening and guess what, we got used to it. Just like everything as times change we adjust and adapt. The world was hit by a pandemic, and with it has abruptly changed our daily habits and lives. Mask wearing, social distancing, lockdowns, etc. So if that’s the new normal for us all, so what? It’s not a big deal, we will get used to it just like everything else we adapt to.
I along with my best friends decided we all wanted to celebrate the coming New Year outside of the insanity and Covidiots of the United States of America. We all ascended on Aruba the ‘Island of Happy’. A small Caribbean island, a population of only 106,000 and guess what? Life is normal. We all felt strange and out of sorts sitting down in a restaurant mask-less, all together chatting, laughing and telling stories as if it was just another day, pre 2020. Yes there are certain places in the world that are living normal lives. Sure you need to wear a face-mask but life is calm, relaxed and yes ‘NORMAL’.
Maybe we can’t change the world. Maybe we don’t need to, or maybe we don’t ever really do. Maybe, just maybe, we are only really here to give it back a little bit of balance, harmony, meaning, purpose, grace, truth, love, so that, through us, life as that beautiful and timeless and universal quest for self-realization goes on flourishing and blossoming.
One thing is for certain, if I’m living each day like it’s my last, I’m going to do things that make me happy. You might be thinking, “if I only do things that make me happy I’ll just be fat, lazy, and broke”. When you ponder those adjectives — it’s quite apparent that being overweight and unsuccessful don’t match up with happiness, therefore doing things that result in those states of being aren’t truthfully adding to your happiness. Therefore this assumption that all things that make you happy will result in a negative outcome is incorrect. This isn’t temporary pleasure. This is about maximizing your enjoyment and fulfillment.
It makes even more sense to do things that aren’t easy. Lifting yourself up to a level of happiness that gives true fulfillment requires the simple things such as exercising to release massive endorphins, lifting someone else’s mood through a kind word or text, lifting your standards to give yourself the respect you deserve, and lifting your mood through a music playlist that gets your body moving. For me that would be sitting down at the piano and allowing my fingers and soul to make beautiful music.
It’s also why I train or move each day. It elevates my mood. It clears my brain and makes room for positive energy. It’s a natural high that makes the entire day 10x better. Ask yourself this — what are the simple habits and routines that lift my life to new levels? Keep those things in your life.
If you’re living each day as if it’s your last, the question becomes — are you leaving a legacy? For me legacy means blazing a path that I want to leave for those who would follow. I want each day to build a blueprint for my son, on how to live life with no regrets and how to maximize his gift of being on this planet.
My question for you is this. Are you creating a legacy that will impact the people you love in positive way? Or are you missing the opportunity to set new standards and new levels of success? Whether you know it or not there are people watching you and being influenced by you.
This is why I strongly believe that everything in your life starts with health and fitness. It gives you the cheat codes to optimizing everything in your day to day life. You get an automatic boost that most people miss out on as they live their days without a purpose with the weight of regret on their shoulders. They feel as if something is missing and no matter how hard they try they just can’t seem to break through. Little do they know that the secret is right in front of them.
As we wonder what it really means to live each day like it’s your last — the answer, at least to me anyway, is a simple one. It starts with investing in yourself. Train your body your mind and spirit. Love the people in your life. Laugh. Learn something new. If you do that each day — I truly believe your life will be one worth living.
Vincent Lyn
CEO/Founder at We Can Save Children
Director of Creative Development at African Views Organization
Economic & Social Council at United Nations
Middle East Correspondent at Wall Street News Agency