How to Choose Your Lifestyle

A lifestyle refers to the way a person chooses to live.  Everyone who is alive has a lifestyle.  Not everyone, however, has the lifestyle they want.  Some people are in a situation they wish they could change.  Others live the same lifestyle as their parents, and have never thought twice about it.  Some people are right where they need to be (why are you reading this blog if you have all the answers?).  

Here's some examples of lifestyles:

1. Urban Lifestyle - This refers to people who like to live in the city.  Maybe they are attracted to walk-ability, public transit, entertainment, coffee shops, or an abundance of STEM jobs.  Perhaps they like the hustle-and-bustle of high population density areas or the people watching that comes with it.  Regardless of the reason, many people adore city living and sitting in traffic.
2. Rural Lifestyle - Conversely, some people want wide open spaces, a few cows, and some crops.  Maybe they really like that Kenny Chesney song about tractors, too.
3. Active Lifestyle - You know the gym bro types.  They want to be exercising all the time and getting their max bench press up to 400 lbs.
4. Healthy Lifestyle - These are the types that can't wait to tell you the cake you are eating is bad for you.  Just kidding, but really it isn't good for you.
5. Minimalist Lifestyle - If you bring your date back to your apartment and they think you've been robbed because there's nothing inside, you might be a minimalist.  Or, maybe, you should call the cops...
6. Bohemian Lifestyle - They like art, rejecting tradition, and communal living.  These are the people that smell bad and work at your local record shop.  
7. Nomadic Lifestyle - These people live in a van down by the river.  This is by choice, not because they can't live in an apartment.  They want the freedom to go wherever they want whenever they want.  The increase in remote work has made the phrase "digital nomad" mainstream.  Thank you, COVID!
8. Sustainable Lifestyle - You do things to reduce your carbon footprint and recycle.  Then you tell everyone about it.
9. FIRE (Financially Independent Retire Early) - Basically, if you are an overpaid STEM worker and can live on less than half of what you make, you won't have to work for very long.
10. Family-Centered Lifestyle - Do you like kids?  Do you want a wife?  This is the choice for you.

There's literally thousands of different ways of living.  Since we've established that our purpose in life is to survive, it is up to us to choose how to do this.  The meaning we get from life comes from the lifestyle we choose.  Why?  If we choose to live a life that is authentic to our values, goals, beliefs, and attitudes, then we are going to find life meaningful.  If we try to be someone we don't want to be life is going to seem meaningless, and survival won't be a pleasant experience.

Let's say that you really love to travel.  When you aren't on the road you feel anxious, like you are missing out on life.  If you are trying to live a traditional life where you own a home and have a 9 to 5 office job, you are going to feel like a fraud.  But, if you bought a travel van and found a way to make money freelancing, then you would be able to travel all the time.  All of the sudden life becomes more meaningful; because, you aren't trying to make a square peg fit in a round hole.

If we go further with this example, we can imagine that the core values of someone that likes to travel might be autonomy, freedom, novelty, and adventure.  They might set goals like:  saving for an RV or van, finding a remote job, and getting a passport.  Their daily routine might revolve around developing habits to allow them to accomplish each step of the process.

This is how you build a meaningful life.  Figure out what mode of living makes the most sense for your personality, values, and beliefs.  From there it becomes relatively easy to set some goals and habits.  As you accomplish things you will feel better about yourself and your attitude towards life will improve.  Your relationships will also improve; because, you will attract people into your life that share your desires.  

The worst thing you can do is continue being something you don't want to be.  People that do that die while the body is still warm.