by Bill Cumming

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have become alive.
Howard Thurman

When I was considering what I wanted to do with my life, I was imprisoned in my mind and there were so many considerations that I felt I was pretty much sentenced to working some monotonous job for forty years to get a pay check and then retire and hoped that is when I could finally enjoy life.

Imprisoned in the mind there are so many considerations that we often ask ourselves the wrong questions and we end up further imprisoned because we made another decision and not a choice.

Freedom is the right to live as we wish. Epictetus

Tim Chaney is now an expert on personal freedom, for nearly two decades he was working a job he hated as a software engineer.

In college, he decided upon a major that he was good at and promised to provide him with a lot of nice things in life.

His personal skills for the job were phenomenal, and when Tim considered all of the external factors like job security, financial success, industry forecasts, and personal skills it seemed like a great option.

After Tim worked for 18 years as a software engineer, he recognized that he was unfulfilled by his job. His work wasn’t inspiring and he wasn’t enthusiastic about life.

Tim sees that he made a classic mistake, which is avoidable.

By paying more attention to what Tim was inspired by while he was in college, he recognizes that he wouldn’t have needlessly suffered working in a field for 18 years.

The choices that will lead to fulfilling lives are always available, but when we aren’t present because of a mind that is rampant on countless considerations we tend to overlook them.

Tim took a couple of classes in college that really spiked his interest, although he knew he didn’t like engineering after his first class, he didn’t make a choice of doing what he was curious about because of the thoughts that crossed his mind.

He thought he couldn’t take a class in psychology because he was an engineering major. He thought that he had to be an engineer because he was good at math. He thought that he would upset his parents if he chose to do something he was really passionate about. He thought he should take other people’s advice on what to do with his life.

Not noticing the implication of his decision, Tim continued to go through college taking the required classes and looking forward to getting the freedom of his degree and start working. Tim said, “I wish that when I was in college I had access to this distinction.”

Fortunately, Tim came to understand choice, which many people never do. By recognizing that he has a choice, Tim can be at peace with himself and do what is in his best interest and enjoy himself whatever he is doing.

It wasn’t Tim’s fault; he wasn’t encouraged to do what inspired him. Rather than living in regret, and lament in the time he spent not enjoying his job, he chose to be free.

He shared with me that he “was too blinded by his circumstances to see clearly,” he lacked, “someone in [his] life that understood how life really worked.”

Without the support to do what has us most alive in life, we may come to settle and find ourselves four, twelve or eighteen years later unsatisfied with the current situation of our lives.

This isn’t about hoping to enjoy life someday; it’s about choosing life now.

The world needs more people who enjoy life and are alive!

It isn’t always easy to make the courageous choice… do you want to be alive or doing work that you hate for the rest of your life?

I resonate strongly with Tim’s desire to have had someone’s support to be able to assist me in making the best choices in my life while in college. Fortunately, Taking A Stand is committed to providing that support for college students to choose what really matters. That is why I wrote this book… for more: check out www.TakingAStand.com.

When we do what has us alive, what might be considered work will seem like play, because it is what we love to do. How awful would it be to enjoy what you do every moment? You don’t have to wait to do what you love; you can choose to do it now.

Asking what has you come alive, might be one of the most important questions in your life? … that is if you don’t want to be doing work you hate for the rest of your life.

I don’t know quite how to say this. I want to wake up. I don’t want to live half-assed anymore.

Kaya McLaren