“Don’t settle for nice, for pleasant, for familiar. Keep looking until you find something that really moves you, that resonates with your core. And I mean this for people, for interests, for hobbies, for your possessions, clothes, music, books, art. Everything. Curate every aspect of your life, as much as you can. It’s in the things that deeply inspire us that we find ourselves. Surround yourself with truth, and you’ll have build yourself a heaven.”
Unknown
Beyond the Quote (201/365)
Curate every aspect of your life because if you don’t then there will be aspects of your life that aren’t curated. Sounds like a, “duh” kind of statement, I know, but, to curate suggests a very personal process that involves choosing what and who to allow, what and who to avoid, what and who to include, and what and who to block out.
To not curate suggests not choosing. And if you don’t choose then who is going to choose? Letting anybody (or worse, anything) control your life is never a good idea. Nobody will ever care more about your life than you. And when it comes to living your best life, not making decisions or choosing to “settle” for what’s already there, isn’t an effective strategy that anybody who’s there would ever recommend.
By leaving aspects of your life uncurated, you’d be leaving gaps in what amounts to, one way or another, your surrounding truth. Your surrounding truth is reality as you know it, as you experience it, as you’ve built it. It’s a cumulative result of the decisions you’ve made from the unfathomable options that you’ve been presented with in every second of every minute of every day.
Some people start off life in awful and unfortunate circumstances and have to choose between “bad” and “worse” options. Some people start off life lucky and in fortunate circumstances and get to choose between “good” and “better” options. But, where we start off is irrelevant to our ability to curate because where we start off is 100% out of our control. What we make of our circumstances is what’s within our control. It’s not what we’ve been given that makes us into who we are—it’s what we make with what we’ve been given that makes us into who we are.
We don’t get to choose our parents, our family, our neighborhood, our economic status, our social class, our intellect, etc. What we get to choose is where we go and how we spend our time from that starting point. We get to choose who we want to surround ourselves with. What interests or hobbies to nurture and what to spend our time developing. What type of possessions are important to us and what things will keep us inspired. We get to choose what clothes to wear, what music to listen to, what books to read. What kind of art we want to create and appreciate. We get to curate every aspect of our lives that involves a decision on our part. When we have to choose between anything, we’re curating. It’s that simple. And remember, not choosing is a choice, too.
By choosing to ignore an aspect that’s within our control or “settling” for something in our lives that’s “nice,” or “pleasant,” or “familiar,” but is ultimately uninspiring, lackluster, and just “okay”—then that’s the life that we’re choosing to live. A nice life. A pleasant life. A familiar life. An uninspiring life. A lackluster life. An okay life. Not our best, most fulfilling, heavenly life.
And don’t get it twisted—building a “heaven” takes work. It takes constant curation. Do you really think that there would ever be a corner of heaven that’s toxic? How many belligerent people do you think would be surrounding you in heaven? Don’t you think every aspect and corner of heaven would be curated and carefully cared for to reflect the heavenly-like conditions throughout? Walking into pockets of hell when you’re supposed to be in heaven sounds a little wrong to me.
And it should sound wrong to you, too. Even if you start off behind. Even if your life has too many pockets of “hell” to count right now. Even if you are forced to make really tough decisions that feel “bad” and “worse” all of the time. The point is to never stop curating. To never stop improving. To never stop taking control over the decisions of your life that shape your life.
Because as is evidenced by countless people throughout history, where you start in life has little to do with who you become. It’s up to you to figure out the right decisions that will lead you forward. It’s up to you to surround yourself with all that inspires you and resonates deeply with your core. It’s up to you to build yourself a life you’re proud of. Because everybody else has their own life to live. Nobody else cares as much about your life as they do their own. And nobody is going to be able to build your heaven for you. They wouldn’t even know where to start. It’s all on you. Choose wisely.
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Written by Matt Hogan
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