Create A Life You Don’t Need A Vacation From
In high school, my superlative in the yearbook was, “Most likely to be on vacation.” I just never understood why I couldn’t go to Ultra Music Festival in Miami because I had to go to class. I can just write the paper on the plane, I thought. And that’s exactly what I did.
I will never forget being a broke college student my senior year on spring break. There was a sign in front of a hotel bar that read, “I need a 6 month vacation, twice a year!” Dreading the fact that I would be headed to the workforce in just a few short months, this sign really resonated with me. I immediately thought, I need to somehow figure out a way to create a life that I don’t need a vacation from.
Yet shortly thereafter, I graduated from college, found myself landing a “dream job”, in a dream city, making damn near 6-figures by 24. I was going through the motions and doing just as I thought I was supposed to do. Yet, just as I knew sitting at that hotel bar on spring break, I was reminded that this 9-5 life was not for me. I was miserable. Going to my vices. Crying in my car at lunch. Depressed as fuck. Who else can relate? No matter what your walk of life, whether you are a recent college grad, a vice president at a law firm, a professional athlete, or stay at home parent, it can be so easy to follow the crowd, especially when you have no clue what the alternative would be.
While I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted, I knew what I didn’t want. I didn’t want to live a life where I needed a drink or (insert your vice here) to numb the pain. I didn’t want to work just to pay the bills and earn 2-weeks a year of vacation days. I didn’t want to constantly look outside of myself, go to a soul-sucking job, so I could buy things I didn’t need, to impress people I didn’t like. There had to be more to life than this, right?
Create a life you don’t need a vacation from.
This phrase always stuck with me. Not knowing how, when I quit my 9-5, I decided that my full-time job would be to become the best version of myself in mind, body, and spirit, and empower my generation to do the same. I want people to live life on their own terms. I want it to be sustainable. I want it to be fun. I want it to be fulfilling. I want it to be nourishing. And to be honest, I’m still trying to figure it all out myself.
We all have our traumas, challenges, moments that change the trajectory of our lives. For me (trigger warning) it was finding my father dead after a sudden.heart attack when I was 16, and then nearly dying myself shortly thereafter due to complications after a knee surgery. I emerged from adolescence with this newfound ability to grasp how precious life really is, and to live it to the absolute fullest.
We all also have different dreams, different goals, different places we want to go and things we want to achieve. I’ve worked alongside millionaires, professional athletes, and top-executives across a wide-range of industries. One thing I’ve learned is that you’ve got to become the best version of yourself in mind, body, and spirit if you want to truly live the life of your dreams. The surface level things, job-titles, and accolades are just that; surface level. You’ve got to go within. There is no quick fix. The work works, but you’ve got to do the work.
Create a life you don’t need a vacation from means digging deep, finding yourself, and truly becoming the person you were meant to be. Because whether you’re dealing with career, relationships, or just overall life sh*t -- you’ve got to save yourself before you save the world. Stop giving a f*ck about what society thinks, go for your wildest dreams, and actually be your best, most true self.
The life you’ve always dreamed of won’t be easy, but it sure as hell will be worth it.