Change Your Life In 5 Easy Steps

 Change Your Life In 5 Easy Steps

Lately, I’ve been working on changing my life. I do this a lot. It’s good to change, and you’ve only got so many years to reinvent yourself left.

Change can seem intimidating¹. Impossible. Insurmountable.

Here are five ways you can change your life today.

TIP #1: Quit something.

The best way to start something is to quit something. Nature abhors² a vacuum, and I’ve discovered careers dislike idling.

A few weeks ago, I quit one of my jobs. I loved the people, but I realized I wanted to focus on other things.

I can’t remember how many times I’ve quit a job I’ve liked with notice in my life. Not many.

This time, it felt good. It felt great. It felt like putting down a backpack.

Now I can consider: Where do I want to go next?

TIP #2: Start something.

Here’s the thing about starting something. You can start anything. You can do it once and never do it again.

Your life is an experiment, a piece of performance art, a fl?neur’s stroll³.

The point is not how many of your experiments have succeeded or failed. It’s how many times you experimented at all.

TIP #3: Stop thinking.

Stuck? Your mind is not your friend. Your ally⁴ is your body.

There’s a saying in yoga: Your body will remember.

Get your body moving, and your brain will follow. Stay still, and your mind will rot.

TIP #4: Kill your excuse.

What’s your number one excuse? My comments are full of them.

“I can’t because … ” “ I have kids.” “I can’t afford it.” “I’m too afraid.” “The economy is bad.” “I don’t know how.”

Women proffer⁵ excuses. Men stew⁶ in resentment⁷. Is that who you are? Someone who leaves their excuses in the comments section of other people’s blogs, or someone who stops sitting at their computer and goes out in the world and does something they haven’t done before?

TIP #5: Give up.

If you keep trying, stop trying so hard. If you keep sending out resumes⁸ and not getting jobs, stop sending out resumes. If you can’t stand the fact that you’re unemployed⁹, start thinking of yourself as self-employed. If you can’t make enough money, stop trying to make money and start trying to make yourself happy. If nothing is working, stop working on it.

Stick your hands in the dirt. Take the dogs for a walk. Go to yoga. See a movie. Eat a brownie. Have sex. Fall asleep.

Give up on whatever you won’t give up on, and the answer will present itself in that empty space.

1 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

2 abhors   

v.憎恶( abhor的第三人称单数 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰

参考例句：

• For the same reason, our party abhors the deification of an individual. 因为这样，我们党也厌弃对于个人的神化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She abhors cruelty to animals. 她憎恶虐待动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 stroll   

n.闲逛，漫步；v.闲逛，漫步

参考例句：

• We are ready to take a stroll in the village.我们准备到村里遛遛。
• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。

4 ally   

n.同盟者，同盟国；vt.使结盟，与...有关联

参考例句：

• In that war England was not an ally,she was neutral.在那场战争中，英国不同任何一国结盟，保持中立。
• She felt she needed an ally so badly.她感到她极需一个支持者。

5 proffer   

v.献出，赠送；n.提议，建议

参考例句：

• He rose and proffered a silver box full of cigarettes.他站起身，伸手递过一个装满香烟的银盒子。
• I proffer to lend him one.我表示愿意借他一个。

6 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

7 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

8 resumes   

n.摘要，概略，履历( resume的名词复数 )v.重新开始( resume的第三人称单数 )；重新获得；重新占用；恢复

参考例句：

• Later we received resumes of what she had said. 后来我们收到她讲话的摘要。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Night resumes her reign. 夜幕又降临了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。