Live Your Unlived Life

 

Twenty years ago I had two low back surgeries and was told I wouldn’t be able to backpack, ride horses, raft, play golf, downhill ski, or run again if I wanted to keep my back healthy. 

However in the last few years, I’ve decided to play with my comfort zone to discover what works for my body by finding my edge and moving it out slightly.   

How many years do you think you have left to live?  What’s your lifeline?

This is a question I often ask my midlife clients.  As a life coach, I help people wake up and live intentional lives by considering what they want to do with the rest of their lives.  It's a question that is on my mind a lot these days because I want to lead my life instead of wake up and find that another 10 years has gone by.

I’ll share my story of how I began to live my unlived life in the second half of 2008.   First of all, it would have been my unlived life if I never took a digital photography workshop in Santa Fe, or if I had not backpacked this summer with my husband and our two dogs. Both were things I have yearned to do for a long time.

It’s possible that I have another 35 years to be active.  This assumes that I won’t have any major health problems.   My mother continues to lead an active life and her mother (my Nana) turns 101 on March 20!  It’s only been in the last six months that Nana has had to move into a nursing home.

Backpacking was one of my beloved activities.  It’s something I’ve longed to do for many years.  Last spring I noticed REI had a sale on backpacks.  I asked my husband to go with me to look at the women’s lightweight backpacks.  I was like a kid in a candy store trying on backpacks and walking around the store. 

We ordered a small, lightweight pack with an inner frame.  Then we decided to take a small step toward my dream of backpacking again with an overnight camping trip.  Last August, we took our two dogs and backpacked one-half mile into a beautiful mountain lake in the Oregon Cascades.   This was a far cry from the miles and backpack trips I used to do but it was a small step (we call them turtle steps in coaching) toward my goal of backpacking again.

We had such a wonderful time making our dinner that evening and sleeping in our tent.  

My next small step is to research our second backpack trip in the Cascades where we can backpack a mile or two and stay overnight this summer.  This step is my way of moving out the edge of my comfort zone a little further and live out something I’ve longed and dreamed to do again.  While it’s not the five to seven mile hikes I used to do, it feels the same because I am so energized and happy being in nature and camping. 

How to Live Your Unlived Life

So right now, spend a few minutes and put your attention on what you want to do to fully enjoy the next year, five years or twenty years of your life. These things don’t have to cost a lot of money.

Before you stop reading this post, get a pen and paper and answer these questions:

• What do you yearn to do?
• What energizes you and what are you passionate about? 
• What dreams have you put on a shelf? 
• What do you want more of in your life?
• How much time do you think you have left in your life? 

Once you have your list of the things you want to do or have in your life, then write down the feelings you’ll get when you get to do or have each thing on your list.

Now pick one thing you want and close your eyes and feel the feelings in your body of doing the thing you yearn to do.

Bring all of your senses into this exercise and fully feel the sensations in your body.  Notice your energy 

levels as you feel the feelings and physical sensations of doing what you want to do.  This is your 

shortcut to getting the feeling now.

Note: It’s not the thing we want but the feeling this thing brings us.

If you can practice this for five minutes every day, you will accelerate the process of bringing this experience in your life faster.  

Now get out there and do the things on your list and live your unlived life!

“A vivid imagination compels the whole body to obey it.

Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.) Greek philosopher, teacher of Alexander the Great