How to Be Here: A Guide to Creating a Life Worth Living

by Rob Bell

Selling your house, giving away possessions, working multiple jobs for a period of time, going back to school and moving in with friends or relatives, sharing a car with your partner and riding your bike more, investing all your savings in a new venture, living on the other side of the world for a year— your friends may not understand, your co-workers may not get it, your extended family may think you’ve lost your mind— that’s okay. Better to receive some odd looks and have a few people roll their eyes than spend your days wondering, What if I did that . . . ? Take that step. Make that leap. Try that new thing. If it helps clarify your ikigai, if it gets you up in the morning, if it’s good for you and the world, do it.

What would it look like for you to approach tomorrow with a sense of honor and privilege, believing that you have work to do in the world, that it matters, that it’s needed, that you have a path and you’re working your craft?

Better to have a stomach full of butterflies than to feel like your life is passing you by.

When you find yourself overwhelmed with all that is coming at you, take a deep breath and say to yourself, Just this. Just this conversation, just this 1, just this moment. You’re building muscle, learning to focus on the 1 in any situation. My friend Pete Holmes often asks, What is lacking in this moment? Because the answer is usually “nothing.” When you stress that you’re missing out, that something terrible and ominous is coming your way because of something you did or didn’t do, when you’re anxious about some upcoming event, stop. Breathe. Ask yourself, What is lacking in this moment? Look around you. Remember that the first word about you is gift. Some things you can control, some you can’t. Do the next right thing, surrender the rest. I often ask myself, What is the next right thing? Because that’s all you can do. The next right thing. You cannot do it all. You can only do the next right thing in front of you. You doing a few things well is a thousand times better than you doing lots and lots of things with half a heart because you’re rushing from thing to thing.