Live, don’t only survive!

Don’t you feel like life today seems to be more about simply surviving than living? 

Probably, you don’t notice the difference between the two: surviving and living.

What’s true though is that you don’t simply have to survive, but you should live! The inability to determine whether you live or survive can come from being accustomed to a particular way of life. It makes everything feel normal even when it should not. As a result, it becomes difficult to realize that we are so often surviving rather than living.

The life you were destined to have is on standby due to what’s happening in your life. 

How should I know I am surviving instead of living?

Survival takes precious time away from you

In a survival mode, you feel like you have no time for yourself. The reason is that you schedule time based on other people’s time. And not the other way around.

You feel like you don’t have enough time to best care for yourself, but mostly to do others need.

Survival means your surroundings dictate your schedule

What you plan on doing isn’t for you, but for what’s going on in your life and mostly for other people.

Your schedule derives from the demands of your work, family, and community (including church if you belong to one or other organizations).

In reality, you don’t decide on what to do and when because you’re not in control of your own time and schedule.

Survival pushes what should always matter most to you to the edges of your life 

The things that matter the most to you are not on your daily schedule.

What’s very important for you is, as a result, pushed to the edges of your life. 

Consequently, other people’s priorities replace yours.

Survival inhibits growth in all areas of your life

These areas are: spiritual, emotional, intellectual and financial.

Survival doesn’t allow growth.

It prevents you from growing in all aspects of your life. It does not give room for growth, which cannot happen if you have no time to plan for it and act on it.

Does any of the above describe a little bit of your life? If so, here’s how you can move from survival to fully living.

Now, claim your life back: Live now

God created you with one life to live, and you have to make it count every day.

You find yourself where you are to work and keep your surroundings. The story of Adam is a good analogy to describe how you ought to live and control your environments. Read Genesis 1 and 2. Having dominion over your surroundings is what it means to live. Survival is the other way around. And that’s not the kind of life you were created to have. See Genesis

Subdue your environments. You plan and let everything else fall into place according to your plan.

Identify your priorities

• What matters the most for you in your life?
• Identify the most important relationships in your life? Click to learn how to establish and maintain healthy relationships. 
• Then, order priorities in a way they help you grow as a person: God, self, family, work, community. 

Plan your day by deciding how it should look like

• You need a plan, based on the priorities you’ve identified in your life
• Set goals that can help you get the tasks done in a more productive way so that you have enough time to do what you love the most.

Develop habits to help you stay on course

Create rituals that can sustain you on your everyday living. Most people call them morning and evening rituals. 

Here’s an example of [su_highlight background=”#f2f5ed”]a morning ritual[/su_highlight] that I’ve been using. Over time, it has changed depending on what’s going on in our lives. But, its structure has always been the same. 

A) I wake up between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m.

B) I pray. The four components of my prayer time include thanksgiving, forgiveness, inviting the Holy Spirit in my life, and intercession. 

Thanksgiving for life, family and my two churches I serve; Forgiveness and inviting the Holy Spirit to guide me throughout the day; Intercession: prayers for family (including extended family) and church people (including friends); Planning my day and asking God to be with me in all these tasks.

C) I exercise. 

Below is an example of[su_highlight background=”#f2f5ed”]an evening ritual[/su_highlight] I use, which also fluctuates depending on the season of my life. 

Bible reading. I use an app, YouVersion. You can use it both on Android and IOS platforms. The plan that helps me read the Bible is called Read Through the Bible. 

Journaling. To journal, I use Day One. It is another app that you can also use on both Android and IOS platforms. You can also have it on your laptop or desktop. Using this app, I record how my days go. 

Planning. I plan vaguely for tomorrow looking at what needs to be done tomorrow. My goal is to have at the most six tasks related to my Church ministry that I need to do. In my journal, I also include what I was able to accomplish during the day and what I will possibly do the following or in the future.

Exercising.

Moving from Surviving to full living comes down to your choice. And you do it by doing the following: identifying your priorities, planning your life, and developing habits to help you stay on track.

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