“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Steve Jobs.
Of all the quotes I have read that are attributed to Steve Jobs, this one touches me where I live. I have tried to express just that, many times, to others, when asked why I live the way I do. It is because my time on earth is limited. It is because I don’t want to waste it living it someone else’s dream of what my life should be. I shut my ears to someone else’s opinion of what I should be doing. I took that leap of faith, used what courage I had, and struck out on my own journey.
Because of this philosophy, this idea that you and only you can know what is right for you, I am happier now than ever before in my life. When I was trudging along in the rat race, trying to fit into the mold of what society deemed appropriate for me, I was only taking steps each day towards my own death–not fully living, not fully engaged in life, not caring one way or another if another day would dawn.
From the day I took the first step towards my freedom, by putting my house up for sale, I could breathe more freely. Smile wider. Dream openly. I could say to everyone, “I am selling my house and buying an RV. I am going to venture out, see the country, work less, live more, laugh more, be more.” And they always asked me “But BE WHAT?” How do you explain the need to GO? How do you explain the need to just BE?”
Thank you, Steve, for putting into words that which I have been trying for years to explain: That I needed to follow my heart, my intuition, to become me.
