HOW SHOULD YOU LIVE THIS LIFE?

How should you live this life?

When you can’t find a way or an answer, it’s only natural to get frustrated. It feels as if you’ve done all you can. You’ve summoned up all this courage, paved your own road, yet you still manage to reach a point where you just don’t know where to go anymore. You begin to ask yourself, “Should I just go back and take the safe route like everyone else?” They seem fine. It’s proven, and it works. You think to yourself that maybe it’s not such a bad idea after all. You convince yourself that going the safe route will resolve all problems and answer all your questions.

Then again, when you decide to go the safe route, you’re then faced with a new set of problems. “I feel so empty inside. I don’t feel like I’m living my life to the fullest. I feel so insignificant.” Because by moving backwards, you’ve given up on the way you want to live and the impact you want to have on the world. You’ve given up on your outlook, your voice, your journey and, most important of all, you’ve given up on yourself.

But there will always come a point where you’ll see or hear something that will once again trigger that deep burning question inside of you:

“Who am I?”

Because up until the point you decided to give up and join the masses, you were at least going out and doing your own experiments. These experiments led to new answers, new ways of thinking and new results. You were making your own conclusions about life.

But now you’re back here… back in the comforts of the majority… uncomfortably comfortable.

What do you do? Sometimes it’s almost like there are only two options in life: Take the safe route but feel absolutely empty inside or take the road less traveled, but life is a struggle.

Luckily for us, it’s never that extreme. In every situation we find ourselves in, there is always a bit of both, and we have the option of taking a side. You can blend in once in a while to feel safe and supported. Other times, you can formulate your own opinion and maintain your sense of self.

Point being, as long as you are proactive about going out and gaining first hand experience about how you want to live your life, then it is your choice to make. Don’t ever live life simply because of a popular slogan you heard or because someone else forced something on you. Experiment. Create an educated, sound and profound decision that is uniquely yours based solely on your personal experiences.

And share it with us because, believe it or not, we want to know the answers to the questions you’re asking too. So don’t you dare give up on us.

As your life and your work inspires me to keep moving forward, I share my work – my words, my photos, and my point of view – because I want to return the love and encourage you. If you are ever feeling brave and fearless, I hope you will follow through, find yourself and live the life you want to live. If you are ever feeling weak and lonely, I hope you are reminded that you are not alone.

Because we all feel the same emotions, we all go through similar processes in life and because we're all still searching.

by Jason Lam

10 SKILLS YOU'LL NEED TO KICK LIFE IN THE FACE

1) Forgiveness. This skill alone will get you through 99% of the shit you'll come across in your life, and no I don't mean just saying the words "I'm sorry" - I mean to internalize it, to take on a forgiving spirit - once you learn how to do that, the words "I'm sorry" will feel like nothing. Give others a break, give yourself a break.

2) Find love, but also let yourself be loved. Love isn't just flowers and rainbows all the time, it's sacrificial, it's painful, but it's the good kind, like the kind you feel when you're lifting weights. Let's be honest, nobody loves lifting weights, it sucks, but you know that investing yourself in such a relationship will reap numerous rewards. That's love. Get that in your head now so you don't freak out every time you encounter a "problem" or "argument".

3) Believe in yourself, but really it's about believing in others. Our worlds are interlinked whether you like it or not, one's failure is your failure, another's success is your success. This is another way of saying don't be greedy. This is also another way of saying that when you feel like you can't accomplish anything, trust that you have people all around you just dying to give you a hand.

4) Pay attention. Become a good listener. In fact, become the best listener, because it isn't just about the physical act of sound waves entering your ear and neurons buzzing back and forth for your brain to process a simple, "oh really?" - It's about acceptance, and accepting people for who they are is one of the greatest gifts you can give in this world. (It makes people feel awesome! Don't you like to feel awesome?)

5) Learn the art of not caring. As I'm writing this we've just entered the year of 2014 and I have never been bombarded by so much useless information ever in my life. Laptops, iPads, iPhones, Television, Twitter... social media and technology has presented us the most wonderful gift with the ugliest side-effects. The reason I say this is because the more you pay attention to things that don't really matter, the more you compare, and the shittier you'll feel. Don't let it get to you. Keep your life simple. You're already unique. So really it's about being comfortable with who you are, wherever you are. Tell your parents you learned that from a 25 year old kid who spent too much time soul-searching and not enough time working on his career.

6) Stand for something. I know it's cool now to be all accepting of every single little thing but that doesn't mean you have to LIKE everything. That doesn't mean you can't express a highly educated, well thought out OPINION. Don't get lost in the mix.

7) Find your tribe. I'm not going to say the word network because it's overused and comes with a million negative connotations but I am going to tell you to build a constructive community. Really. You can only go so far by surrounding yourself with the same people. Reach out, but stay humble.

8) Hard work beats talent any day. That said, find your passion and have enough discipline to focus yourself. A jack of all trades is a master of none.

9) Know yourself. Really know yourself, which is really just another way of saying - buy a one way ticket out of the country and get on with that soul search - you'll be surprised with the things you'll find - it's an experiment - home was the control - now let yourself go.

10) Get off the computer. 

by Jason Lam