An Epic Life is Not a Perfect Life
June 20th, 2012
I want to make a clarification. Epic does not simply mean majestic and awesome. An epic life is not a perfect life. It’s not all awesome, all the time.
By epic, I mean something that is beyond scale — something so big you cannot exactly imagine it.
By epic, I mean difficult. So difficult that it will require skills you don’t already have. So difficult that at times it will require a heroic effort. So difficult that it cannot be done alone — you need a team, and or/significant support. So difficult that the outcome is not certain.
And, because of the scale and difficulty, it will be full of discovery and fulfillment.
An epic life is full of peak experiences. Living an epic life is about becoming actually what we are potentially. These peak experiences don’t happen without struggle. An epic life is a hard-earned celebration. It is epic not despite struggle, but because of it.
An epic life is a life that’s lived on purpose. By living on purpose I do not mean maximizing your time. I mean experiencing your time, rather than spending it. An epic life is a full life. (A full life and a busy life are not the same things.)
Why does it matter that we create and live our most epic life? Because we only have this one life. An epic life is your best life –– a life that we love so much we view it as the gift that it is.
To borrow the wonderful words of poet Mary Oliver: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
- Categories: Life and Leadership
- Tags: epic, epic life, life purpose, peak experiences, struggle
- Comments: 5 Comments
Love this!
Shelli, this is so beautifully worded. I love it!
As always Shelli, very beautifully written and extremely thought provoking!!!!!
I just enjoy reading what you have to share! Thanks!
[…] off, a quick reminder: Epic does not mean perfect. It does mean exhilarating, but the exhilaration and epic nature of it only come following effort […]