Are You Living The Good Life?

I find that online, people like to talk about what their doing, and then follow it up with a "life. is. good." 

Sometimes it's to let the world know that they're happy. Sometimes it's to make you envious. 

Other times it's because they're self absorbed dick heads who clearly don't understand that every time they announce what perfect thing they're doing with their perfect boyfriend or girlfriend, that the Internet simultaneously barfs in its mouth. 

I often wonder what "the good life" looks like. What it feels like. If you think you can be happy in your life, even though it looks nothing like someone else's Good Life...

For some people it's physical surroundings. They need to be in a specific spot, a specific city before they can be happy. No where else will do.

Some people can be happy anywhere, as long as they're doing a job they love. 

Maybe you just need an Internet connection and a good cup of coffee to have the Good Life. 

Maybe you just need to be with that one person, and your surroundings, zip code and job title are completely irrelevant. 

Maybe your bank account balance needs a lot of zeros after it before you could ever whisper the words, "Life is good."

I sat here looking at my messy flat tonight and asked myself, "Am I living the good life?"

I don't have much money. I'm constantly working and my back is in knots. 

I look at my friends photos. A lot of them have fabulous, fabulous lives. Living on tropical islands, swimming with sharks, travelling from here and there...

And I get so inspired. Their life is so good. So happy and full. 

Yet so many people forget that someone else's Good Life could very rarely be their Good Life, as well.

I'd fucking love to live on a tropical island. 

And then I remember, if I were to leave,  how much I would miss that feeling I get when I stand on Waterloo Bridge at night. With the bitter cold wind blowing in my face, the Thames at my feet, and a lit-up, gloriously old city staring at me from both sides. 

Getting to observe what other people's Good Life looks like is really fascinating  to me. I know some people who are truly happy. Who are thriving. Who actually love the person they're with. And that's what keeps me going. They make me feel a bit more normal, as I'm starting to wonder if anyone actually loves the person that they married and promised to spend their life with. 

I may have a cold and achy muscles from weeks of non-stop networking, press events, bullshit control and the every day running of my website - but I'm not unhappy. 

My flat doesn't look how I want it to. My body isn't in the shape I'd like it to be (which has to change next week as I'm training for a 5k starting TOMORROW). 

But I actually have very little to complain about. 

For me, it's not about my bank account. I look at this period in my life as the time when I will work the hardest. When I will learn patience. And failure. And success. 

A time where I'll know very little sleep, and too much drinking, and champagne on boats in Paris. (I seriously did that last week.) 

I'm laying down the foundations for a successful, perhaps softer life in my future. 

But, if my entire life looked and felt like this - I could die happy. 

I watch a lot of Doctor Who. And I know that feeling Rose gets every time she goes back home. Whenever she thinks her and the Doctor are done, and that she'll never ride around in the TARDIS again, she falls to pieces. 

"What am I supposed to do? Wake up? Catch the bus? Go to work, come home, eat chips??"

When I think of going back five years in time, I lose my breath. If I were to get separated from my life, my love, how it is now, and was sent back... Well, like Rose, I would fight my way through Space and Time and, Paradox be damned, I would get back to where I belong. 

To who I belong with. 

Like I said, I really don't have that much to complain about. 

But, for better or for worse, I'm never content. I can't stop for long periods of time. I won't stop doing what I'm doing. Even if I won the lottery I wouldn't stop working.  It's not about the money, it's about the journey, it's about the ride. 

I may find it hard sometimes. I may have some The Gossip and the pussy-footers to deal with...

But I am living the Good Life. My Good Llife. 

And it has mostly grey skies and temperatures that rarely break 80. It's not rolling in cash. It's not doing things fast and easy....

It's all home-grown. It's organic. 

And it's all I could ever really hope for. 

Anything else that happens from now on will just be a series of continued, happy bonuses and earned successes. Because at the base of everything, it's all good.

My life is good. And at the end of the day, I'm happy.

Comments

[Caroline]

BRAVO!

Golly, every word here could apply to how I feel at the moment - right down to watching a lot of Dr Who! :D Just replace sipping champagne on a boat in Paris with sipping champagne on an airbase in a ball dress and I'm right there...

I think you've hit the nail on the head in particular with regards to working hard now to lay foundations for later. Nothing comes for nothing and I would personally sacrifice having pennies and to live in my messy, tiny flat now for a little bit of comfort in the future.

As for boasting... I get a lot more readers on my blog when I'm depressed than I do when I'm happy. But they do say that misery loves company!