Every year around my birthday I get pretty quiet and even more introspective than normal. When I was little, I used to write letters to my future self. This year I’ve spent a lot of time considering the question, what makes a good life?
The subtitle of my blog is “My path to a good life through learning, creating, and self discovery”. I was so excited when I came up with that line because it encompassed all of the interests and passions that I want to share on my blog. But what are the elements that make up “a good life”?
I was careful to say “a good life” rather than “the good life” because the answer will be different for everyone. There is no right or wrong here just whatever you value and the path that works best for you. This answer is also always changing and evolving as people enter different phases or seasons of life.
Today I’m sharing 5 personal answers to this question in my current season of life. I encourage you to consider your own. It’s an important question to ask yourself every so often if you want to steer your journey and live intentionally.
Good Health
This should be number one all of the time because without good health, it’s hard to focus on any other aspect of creating a good life. Often though this is something that gets taken for granted until we have a health scare or a wake up call. Good health includes physical, mental, and spiritual health.
For me this element looks like taking care of myself and treating my body well. I try to eat healthy, stay active, and make sure I get enough sleep. I practice self care by journaling especially my daily morning pages practice. It helps me clear and calm my mind, a place where I can spend too much time. I also get outside and care for my garden or go for walks. I require a lot of alone time to recharge and that’s something I’m getting better at claiming and protecting.
Some areas I hope to improve upon with the good health aspect are eating less sweets, incorporating meditation, breath work, or yoga into my daily rhythm, and considering the spiritual side of good health. At the moment, I feel spiritual when I’m out in nature or ensuring that my lifestyle matches my values.
Living by my Values
Living authentically is embracing a lifestyle and making choices that support and connect with your values. If your choices are out of alignment with your values, it can take a toll on your mental and spiritual health. You can feel that something is off.
For me living authentically looks like putting more good than bad out into the world. I want to put more positivity, understanding, and compassion out there than negativity, judgement, and fear. I choose kindness and empathy. That’s what I prefer to consume and expose myself to as well when it comes to education, entertainment, and media. Humans don’t all have to be the same. Our differences in culture, beliefs, and lifestyles are what make us interesting and unique.
In the same vein, that’s why living a sustainable lifestyle is so important to me. Or at least a more sustainable one, there’s always room for improvement. The path and world I grew up in is not sustainable with it’s blind consumerism and constant need for more. It can’t continue indefinitely. For me, it doesn’t honor or respect our environment or ourselves and it doesn’t make me feel connected to others or to nature.
I hope to improve upon living by my values by having them be clear to me as a guideline. I wish to live in a way where I value the earth and leave it so there are still resources for future generations. My husband and I choose to live small and simply, trying to create less waste. Embracing a slower lifestyle and limiting technology allows me to tune it more with natural cycles as well.
Connection with Family and Friends
Being connected to family and friends is a huge one for me. I’m very close to my family. I don’t know if it’s because my zodiac sign is cancer or because I’m an introvert or I’m just weird. Even in college when so many of my peers wanted nothing to do with their parents, I always remained close to mine.
Both my parents and grandparents still have large roles in my life. I’m incredibly blessed to be in my 30s and still have my grandparents here with us. Even when we all lived far apart we were still close knit. I think it was because of these close ties, I was able to travel so much and try a lot of new things in my 20s. I always had the stability and support of my friends and family back at home.
I’m lucky to have a partner with similar values, goals, and ideas for our life together. The next generation has arrived in our families. We have young nieces and nephews. I hope to find a way to be a regular part of their busy lives and create the same support for them that I always felt.
Debt Free Lifestyle
Remaining financially debt free is another element of a good life for me. It equals freedom. Money is time and we all have a limited amount of that. Staying out of debt means that our time is our own. Making sure that we live below our income level also creates the same effect.
Living simply with minimal consuming supports this element as well. I would rather live smaller with less material stuff. Then I can work fewer hours (giving of my time) because I have fewer bills to pay. It also allows the freedom to leave a job if I become unhappy and move onto something else. I can take more chances on opportunities.
Last year we accomplished a massive dream of purchasing land debt free. It’s very important to us to continue this lifestyle. Financial freedom gives way to all sorts of freedoms. I can spend more time working toward the things I care about – learning, creating, spending time with family and friends, or working on our land.
Embracing Growth
The final element of a good life I’m sharing is embracing growth. Continual growth and being adaptable can get you through the ups and downs that come with life.
When I was younger I never wanted to grow up. I associated being a grown up with less freedom, choices, and fun. I saw it as rigid, stagnant, and boring but that is not the way it has to be. No matter how grown up you are, you never have all the answers. I enjoy that fact. We are never done or finished. Life isn’t a race to get to the end. It’s about enjoying the journey and the process.
For me I’m driven by knowledge and learning. Embracing growth looks like continuous learning and challenging myself with new skills and experiences. I love discovering new things about myself and my loved ones particularly through the knowledge of psychology and other systems used through human history. With my perfectionist side, I’m always searching for ways to be more efficient, organized, and on point with my knowledge and thoughts.
An area I hope to improve on here is balance. My constantly churning mind can be exhausting to the point where I need to lay on the couch and binge a TV series. It can lead to me burning out on a certain interest and abandon a project altogether. I always feel best when I’m progressing, moving toward a goal or gaining information so I would like to find a healthy balance for all that mental energy.
Do you live with intention? What elements define a good life for you?
