Living VS Existing

I was driving down the Garden State Parkway earlier today when I noticed a car in front of me had a bumper sticker that said, "I had a life...but my job ate it." It was funny, for sure. But, it got me thinking about the current state of our world and how we as a society have lost sight of what's important in these last several years.

When I was a kid, I recall my kindergarten teacher doing a project in which she asked me and my classmates what we wanted to be when we grew up. Back then, there was no limit as to what you were allowed to dream up or what you wanted to be. Every kid in class, including myself, had dreams of what they wanted to be when they grew up: firemen, police officers, dancers, professional athletes, veterinarians, and astronauts. When I got to the third grade, I was asked to write two paragraphs in my English journal of who I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote: "I want to be a martial arts teacher because I like martial arts and it makes me happy." The teacher gave me an A. However, when I got to sixth grade, an adjunct teacher of the school who taught a life skills class asked us to write a one-page paper as to what we wanted to be when we grew older. To this day, I recall exactly what I wrote. I said that: "I want to be a professional martial arts teacher. I'm also thinking about doing writing and maybe become a stand-up comedian someday if I get good enough." My grade for the paper? An F. She said, "This is completely unrealistic. The real world is harder than you think. You need to grow up and realize that your options need to be practical."

It seems that it's fine to dream and have goals when you're a kid, but the older we get, it appears as if you are only allowed to follow certain goals according to certain standards that society dictates. The goals and dreams you had as a kid eventually became labeled as "unrealistic" or "fantasy". Whatever dreams you had as a kid were automatically tossed onto the scrap heap once you got older for the primary purpose of making money. Now, I'm no hippie. I love money...a lot. Money, when used right, can help you improve your quality of life as well as the quality of life for those around you. However, people do crazy things for money. They'll toss their dreams aside. They'll stab people in the back. They'll neglect the people they love. People end up focusing on money so much that they do not use money as a means of improving life. Many end up focusing on money just so that they can make MORE of it. Some people then go out just looking for a job as a means of just paying the bills as a means of just getting by.

Today, it seems that more and more people are looking for a "means of getting by" or "finding another job" instead of truly trying to carve out a better life for themselves...trying to follow their passion to develop a more fullifilling life for themselves. People are simply trying to exist as opposed to truly living their lives.

Now, I know this is difficult to grasp in today's world, where the economy is the worst it's been since the Great Depression. However, I am meeting more people who, while they have lost their jobs or a great deal of money due to this recession, they were able to find a way around their situation to make more money by following their dreams. I was recently emailed a few months back by a Filipino martial artist who, after losing his job as well as his home to foreclosure, saw my website and felt inspired to open up his own Filipino martial arts school. Today, he has his own school and is making a living doing what he loves. While he says I was one of the people who inspired him to follow his dreams, the fact that I was able to help inspire a person realize their dreams is one of the factors that inspired me to take Bayani Warrior to the next level.

I realize everyday that I refuse to simply exist on this earth in mediocrity. I believe I need to LIVE my life with purpose.

I am living my life with purpose.