BEST LIFE TO LIVE IS RIGHT NOW, RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE

“Live your best life,” they say, but what’s it really mean?

I’m pretty sure ‘they’ don’t mean take a page from the bi-polar play book and create new personalities based on internet scrolling.

Mental health is no laughing matter, but what is it about some people who display red flags and call it their best effort?

“If I don’t have this, that, and the other thing, then I suck,” is no way to go.

There is another way, a better way, and you can search all the way to the end of the Internet and come up empty.

Or keep going right here.

Taking your best shot means ‘loading up and chasing goals to the end of time’ and it sounds so exhausting, especially when your best shot at life includes rigorous academic standards, testing, reviewing, updating, failing, and maybe one day if you’re lucky, getting the sort of validation you need to feel good about yourself.

And we wonder why people walk around angry and pissed off at a world that doesn’t agree with their elevated sense of self-esteem.

Jethro Bodine was not a Beverly Hillbilly brain surgeon, but don’t tell him. He had the dream.

People moving to Texas because they like the political climate better than Oregon, better than California and Washington, might be in for a wake-up call.

“We all love our new Baptist minister. What church do you attend?”

When new neighbors ask this question, what’s the right answer if you’re not in the Baptist fold? What do you say to build on the momentum you’ve gained by moving to Texas to live your best life?

Is there a right answer if you’re not a name brand Protestant?

Rolling Stones Keep On Rolling

I took to the road early to see what there was to see. And saw a lot.

From a hitchhiking plan that paid tribute to the great Rick Sanders, Stu Abbey and I saw the highway from Oregon to the Junior National Westling Tournament at the University of Iowa, and back.

That was after riding a bus to Colorado State and traveling in campers to Oklahoma State to compete against the good guys.

The longest hauls? Two other guys and I drove straight through from Eugene, Oregon to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When living my best life took a downturn on the east coast, I rode the dog for three days to Portland.

Since then everything’s been sunshine and lollipops? Well it’s Oregon, so the sun part is hit and miss, but climate change is working on that.

This rolling stone grew some roots and sank them deep. I took Bob Dylan’s advice:

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift

Build that foundation early because things get shifty along the way.

Best Life Lived Around The World

Who is living it up in Tianjin, China? What’s happening in Columbus, Ohio? In Beaverton, Oregon, and Muhlhausen, Germany?

There are people in those cities working toward better outcomes, and they find BoomerPdx. Welcome aboard.

Can anyone out there give an example of what it means to strive, to exceed expectations, to take life to a whole ‘nother level?

Anyone? Okay, I’ll go first.

Living my best life includes a good woman beside me, healthy kids breaking new ground, and a rewarding social system of friends and family. My wife likes to say I don’t have friends, that I need more friends, that I should learn how to make friends.

This is wife-talk from someone living their best life right now. And she’s right, from her point of view.

My point of view is more Zen-like: Does a tree make noise when it fall in the forest with no one around?

Getting Zen With It

It’s the same as: Can you be friends with someone if you don’t check in with them ten times a day? Five times a week? Once a month? Every now and then?

If I don’t hear from people I automatically think they are busy living their best life and look forward to hearing about it the next time we get together.

This is a better use of time than death scrolling, morbid fascination with god-awful situations, and doing better than the lowest common denominator.

Better to rise up, lift up, and get moving around your street, your town, your state. What can you do right where you are that you couldn’t do anywhere else?

Do you have a beer near you that you can’t buy anywhere else? A vineyard that produces wine not sold anywhere but right there? Local weed grows?

The possibilities of local wonder are endless. Where to start? Pour a nice glass of wine and figure it out.

Where’s the first place? Here’s one.