By: Hebé Lugo Nazario
How to Create a Life Well Lived
What Does It Mean to Live a Well-Lived Life?
I have a particular trait—I’m an over-achiever. Before finishing one thing, I’m already thinking about the next. If I can do more than one thing at a time, even better. For me, a life well lived is an active life, full of achievements and constant progress, free of idleness.
I can’t say that this is right or wrong, just as I can’t say that the way you live your life is right or wrong. It’s simply different. In this blog, I’m sharing what works for me. It’s something I’ve shared with family and friends for years. From their own perspectives, it has inspired them to pursue achievements and lifestyle changes aligned with their personal aspirations.
I invite you to read this from your own perspective and think about what it represents for you and your life.
When we view life through the lens of others, we often think: That’s possible for them, but not for me. The first thing you need to understand is that anything you desire is possible. What seems like an obstacle today could turn out to be your greatest reward. I’ve seen people achieve family and personal goals they never thought possible. The same happens to me every day. I live in awe, celebrating the life I’m building little by little. I enjoy every project that becomes a reality, even when it initially seemed out of reach.
When you read a title like A life Well Lived, the first thought might be, Wow! What is that? Does such a concept exist? Am I doing it right? A life well lived is your life—it’s not a race, nor is it a test. It’s simply what you want to be for yourself and for those around you. It’s a collection of experiences and dreams, fulfilled or unfulfilled; of lessons learned and stories to tell.
Your Life, Your Definition
When we view life through the lens of others, we often think:
«That’s possible for them, but not for me.»
A life well lived carries a unique definition for each of us. For some, it’s achieving everything they set out to do. For others, it’s finding balance between spirit, emotions, work, and health. It could even be as simple as having fun or fulfilling an important aspiration.
To define what a life well lived means for you, answer these questions:
- If money, time, health, or daily responsibilities weren’t obstacles, how would you want your life to look?
- How would you want the next year to unfold?
- What would you want the summary of your life to be?
- What legacy would you like to leave with your family, your community, and the world?
For you, that is a life well lived! And if you’re not used to asking yourself these kinds of questions, you might think it’s just a dream. But how different would everything be if you knew that dreams are possible and become reality every single day?
Achieving the life you just imagined depends solely on you.
Personally, I do this exercise every year or year and a half, or simply whenever I feel it’s time for a change. But what’s the point of dreaming it if I don’t make it a reality?
Having completed your dream, review it again and visualize it as if it were a movie playing on a theater screen.
What moments do you visualize? What do you need to do to make each of them a reality? For instance, do you see yourself surrounded by friends? Do you imagine a large family? Are you standing on the top of a mountain?
For every significant experience or event you wrote down in the first question, assign at least three things you can do today to work toward it in the future. In other words, what is the first step? If you feel inspired, you could make a complete list of actions to bring your vision of life to fruition as you desire. A simple way to visualize this is how you plan a vacation: first, you imagine yourself at the destination you want to visit, and then you start making a list of everything you’ll need—from the plane ticket to the clothes you’ll pack. The same principle applies to the bigger picture of life.
2) Keep a short list:
I’ve found that when I start focusing on one of the projects I’ve selected, at times, I lose focus and forget about the others—the broader perspective of where I was headed. However, looking at life as a whole regularly can also be exhausting. Create a short list of your life’s projects and carry it with you wherever you go. When you lose focus, revisit the list and redo the exercise of identifying the three tasks you need to accomplish today to work toward that goal in the future. This ensures that you put your dreams back into motion. Include the three to five most important projects of your life in your short list.
I’ll use the example of a sports race: if, in a year and a half, you want to run a marathon but have never done so, your short list should include things like researching what’s needed to complete a race, joining a running group, and registering for the marathon. If you want to get married, have a child, change careers, go on a vacation, or become the best at a specific sport or hobby, what do you need to get there?
For me, a life well lived is having a clear purpose and living it every day, making the most of every available minute to get closer to the person I want to become. It’s living passionately for what you want and inspiring others with that uplifting spirit. It’s breaking away from patterns I don’t like and doing something about them, transforming them into what I desire them to be. It’s taking care of myself and those around me so that together we can continue striving toward the vision we have of life. It’s being interesting in my own unique way, challenging myself, and taking myself to places I’ve never known before. It’s recognizing the best I can be and working toward it, beyond criticism and complacency. For me, a life well lived is one of constant progress, where every day I get closer to my idea of what it should be, to my dreams and personal aspirations.
The opposite would be a life of regret and lament, realizing that time has passed us by and we didn’t achieve what we wanted. Letting ourselves get swept away by the day-to-day, only to wake up a decade later asking or blaming ourselves for what we’ve done with our time.To prevent this from happening, what does a life well lived mean to you?
Life doesn’t have to be easy or hard—it just has to be. Accepting the good days and the bad days is part of the journey in the pursuit of a life well lived.
