“Create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good on the outside.” – Author Unknown

The older I get, the more I learn that your quality of life is not dependent on what you have been given. Rather, your quality of life is dependent on what you choose to create.

Every day, we are creating our life. We are choosing how to spend our time, and with whom to spend it.  We are choosing what words to say out loud, and which ones to keep inside our heads.  We are choosing how to care for ourselves, our loved ones and our homes.  And with all these choices, we are creating our life.

The act of creation always starts with a vision. Otherwise, you aren’t creating.  You are just reacting.  That is why it is so important to envision the life that you would like to have.  If you don’t take the time to do that, you will end up spending all your time meeting the demands of others.  Or else you will spend your time doing unfulfilling activities.

For instance, mothers can easily end up down the wrong path in this regard. As a mother, if you don’t take control of your free time, your children gladly will fill it with ways that you can “help” them.  Your free time then will be consumed with cleaning bedrooms, making lunches and supervising homework – all tasks that children should be doing on their own after the age of 10.

Our free time also can be filled up with mindless activities when we don’t know what else to do. So we end up wasting our time watching television, surfing the Internet, or doing online shopping.

Creating a good life requires you to be intentional with how you spend your time. You should be spending your free time doing things that give you pleasure or satisfaction.  But first you have to figure out what it is that you enjoy doing!  For instance, I enjoy reading, writing, going to church, ballroom dancing and playing my flute.  On days when I am able to incorporate at least one, if not more, of those activities in my day, I feel quite good.  However, if my free time gets consumed with serving other people’s interests, or if I spend too much time on the Internet, I feel frustrated.

That is why you have to guard your free time for the precious commodity that it is. We all have parts of our day that are spent doing things that we have to do.  Most of us have to earn money and do basic household chores.  And if we have children, we have caregiving responsibilities, as well.

So, our limited free time is precious, indeed. But our free time is where we have the opportunity to create our lives.  As a result, the questions you should be asking yourself every day are these:

What kind of day am I creating today? Will I fill it with unnecessary errands or mindless television watching?  Will I fill it with surfing the Internet or with hours on social media?  Will I spend my time arguing with others and feeling frustrated?

Or, will I do something with my time that I truly enjoy? Will I listen to beautiful music, cook an elegant meal, or read something spiritually uplifting?  Will I enjoy nature by taking a walk or gardening?  We have so many beautiful choices as to how we can spend our free time.

The bottom line is this: We choose what kind of life we will live. Yes, there are external factors that can affect our circumstances, such as illness, the economy, the behavior of others, etc.  But so much of the quality of our lives is in our hands.

How we choose to spend our free time is in our hands. Whether we allow the rudeness of others to ruin our day is in our hands.  Whether we spend our time with kind or unkind people is in our hands.  And the choices that we make in those areas determines the kind of life that we will live.

This week, consider whether you are making the right choices so that you can create a good life. Make sure to be intentional with how you spend your time.  A good life doesn’t just happen.  Rather it is something that we create.

(Photo Courtesy of Pexels)

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