"Living your best life" seems to be a newish phrase, I suspect it comes from the "influencers" of social media.
My daughters use it a bit, I notice that they use it in reference to me when I am happy with some small thing. Once was when I was home alone on Boxing Day eating cherries and cheese. On that day I made a decision to be happy with what I was doing, it was my best life because I decided to make it that way, not because I couldn't have dreamt anything better.
The other time was when I was in hospital "Mum's living her best life in hospital"
Stuck in bed, having to announce every bodily function to a nurse, unshowered......
Not my ideal life but I was grateful to have the surgery, grateful to be looked after, happy to look forward to a meal tray three times a day. It was my best life because I made it that way.
Sometimes I wonder if people think I can't imagine any bigger kind of life.
Do you "live your best life"?
If not, how does it look?
I try.
ReplyDeleteAnd hope to continue to find happiness (BIG happiness) in the small things - which are huge in my world. Boxing Day with cherries and cheese sounds pretty good to me - though my best life would include a new book too.
I think it was cherries, cheese and a movie here :)
DeleteFresh cherries sounds like a good life to me. I understand. Finding a way to be happy is big with me. I can imagine, but I live with what I have. Of course, always working toward a bigger life.
ReplyDeleteAlways working toward a bigger life, yes! I'm happy but it doesn't mean I don't hope for other things
DeleteI do. I have been trained to.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think you do. Many hours of meditation show
DeleteI try to. It's been hard the last while but prior to that I took joy where I found it. It helped that my imagination never really pictured anything else because I was happy with my life as it is. Now, what I really want cannot be. Maybe there is a limit to living one's best life. I don't know.
ReplyDeleteOf all people, you get to say this is not your best life and hope for fresh blessings (sorry for the religious sounding word but it conveys my meaning)
DeleteI try to but with root canal work tomorrow and a hospital appointment about my eyes on Saturday I'm struggling a bit.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, I am in the middle of a root canal and have another to do. It's ninvasive and expensive. Eyes are on another level of concern, I really hope it goes well
DeleteYour children keep you laughing, Kylie.
ReplyDelete*Mum's living her best life in hospital* had me laughing.
Home is an empty place when Mum isn't there.
Good thing you weren't in hospital any longer!
It is sad when people think their best life is behind them.
I have been reading comments below a YouTube video; see what you make of them.
*A Day in London 1940's in color.* Real Stories.
Jack
P.S. Hope Joe's canal treatment goes well, and his hospital appointment for his eyes.
Hope your own recovery is proceeding apace.
You got it, Jack, the young ones exist in a different universe, as we probably all did.
DeleteMy recovery is so good. I'm still learning to balance and I look like a drunken sailor but thats ok, it's part of the process.
I'll have a look at the video/ comments
I hope I'm living my best life. I never thought of it before.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to me to have a rich life, Red. I think that's what we all hope for.
DeleteI think you are absolutely right Kylie. A 'best life' is finding joy in the everyday.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, if i was a dog they would call me "very food driven" which is to say that if all else is miserable I always enjoy a good feed
DeleteI think the best life is playing the cards you are dealt, while looking for the things you can smile about. There is always something joyful.
ReplyDeleteYes, Anne, i think you are right. I'm pretty good at laughing at all kinds of things so I'm always amused :)
DeleteI'm living a peaceful life, and doing my best. I'm learning how to be happy with what I have.
ReplyDeleteSx
Scarlet, I'm interested in what people would change if they could. If it's not a rude question, is there one thing you could name that would make life better?
DeleteI would like to go dancing, regularly, but there's really no place where I live to do that without travelling miles and miles. And of course Covid makes that sort of socialising a bit awkward as well!
DeleteSx
I really enjoyed the outdoor pictures of Sydney in your last post. They perked up my day.
ReplyDeleteThe other commenters have it right. We had better live our best life each day because it is the only one we have. And we are with us always. Everywhere we go, there we are.
I remember seeing a sign several years ago that said, "I complained because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet."
Not trying to be morbid. I am watching much less "news" lately because when I watch it I become depressed. Instead, I try to be a "if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" sort of person. I perceive that you are one too.
My dad used to say it takes more muscles to make a frown than to make a smile. Your posts make me smile.
Thank you, Robert. I'm always a little tickled when someone appreciates my attitude.
DeleteI still have a slightly morbid fascination with some news stories but in general it's all too sad and I stopped regular news consumption years ago.
I'm glad the glimpse of harbour cheered you up
The phrase is getting quite hackneyed, Kylie but I so agree with your take on it. Enjoying life as life shows up, cherishing the minutes.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
WWW,
DeleteI have heard it referred to as a toxic phrase and I see that perspective. It's easy for a privileged influencer to exhort people to pursue goals etc but it's less easy when the odds are stacked against a person.
I have also noticed the term "best life" creeping into modern parlance. I must admit that I am usually resistant to trendy additions to The English language. However I suppose that the idea of living your "best life" can ignite useful self-questioning. I guess that most of us spend the majority of our lives striving for that "best life" but mostly exist in the shadows of that bright raft of possibilities.
ReplyDeleteNeil,
DeleteAs I continue to process this idea I realise that there is the "best life" we hope we can have and there is the "best life" we make for ourselves. What we make is beautifully expressed as existing in the shadows of a bright raft of possibilities
I would say I'm living my best life, if that means making the most of every situation and not sitting around moaning. It's not a phrase I've heard over here. We just refer to making the best of things.
ReplyDeleteNick,
DeleteThe way I understand it, "Making the best of things" is a phrase that pertains to attitude and wanting what we have.
"Living your best life" in the context of social media and influencers, seems to be more aspirational and unrealistic.
I tend to agree with the phrase that living your best life involves not having what you want but wanting what you have - but I suspect that takes some practice!
ReplyDeleteTreaders,
DeleteI hadn't quite processed the idea but I'm getting closer. Wanting what we have is a great and necessary skill but I think we also need to have something to hope for