Living Now

Hi, guys. My name is Donny Rouse, and you were listening to the podcast One Life Living Now. What if today was the day that you said yes to life? What if today was the day that you took action on all those dreams you made for yourself, like taking that perfect trip, starting that business, or telling that special someone that you love them? What if today was the day that you took action? So often people think that they have all the time in the world to do these things, when the truth is that every moment is a blessing and a gift. We aren't guaranteed a single moment outside of now for that reason. We have to do the things that are important to us. Do the things that we know if we don't do them later on, that we're going to regret rather than put them off. Recently, I was at the food store and I ran into an old friend of mine. We hadn't seen each other in about 22 years. As we were catching up, he had mentioned that he had looked at my Instagram. He saw that I had been traveling. He had went on to say, you know what? I wish I had traveled more. He told me that he's married now. He has, I think, three girls whom he loves. But he said when he looks back at all the excuses he gave for not living the life he wanted to live, he realized that they were just all bullshit, all stories he was telling himself. He used to say that he didn't have the money, but he realized now that he had all the money in the world to do the things he wanted to do. He used to say that he didn't have the time, but now he realizes just how little time he has, that he had all the time in the world. And he used to tell himself that he didn't have the freedom when he realizes now that it was all a choice, that he had the freedom to do these things, to live abroad if he wanted to. I felt really bad for him, actually. Not really bad for him, but I felt sad because I know that for me, I mean, I don't have kids, I'm not married, but I know some of the best experiences of my life have been those travels that I had taken. And I'm not saying that that's everybody's cup of tea, so maybe that's why it kind of hit home to me. But I could see in his eyes that those were things that he valued and that were really important that he was unable to do. As I sat there taking it all in, I was taking a mental note, and it was using his experiences As a lesson from my own, I'll give you a couple experiences from my own life. In 2006, I went to Rome, Italy, for three months. I went to learn linguistics as well as drink all the espresso that I could possibly, to see how exactly how many shots of espresso would take before I can od. It was about eight a day. But while I was there, I tried getting my citizenship because I wanted to live in Rome. I went to the consulate there, and it was just a bunch of. It was a lot of paperwork. And they said, you know what? It's probably going to be easier if you go back to the United States and you do it there. I'm able to get it because my father was born in Italy. When I came back, it took me roughly three years to get my Italian citizenship. And at that point, I was able to move to Italy if I wanted to. But I gave myself a shitty story. I said, well, you know what? You know, I feel like it's not the right time now. I should have done it then. I don't have the time to do it. You know, I have my business now. It's just not the right. I can't leave my business. And you want to know something funny? But as time went by, so it was usually like periods of three years or like chunks of three years. Every three years, I would check in and I would be like, oh, all right. Well, man, three years ago, I should have moved to Europe. I should have done that. Now it's too late. Three years later, oh, my gosh, I'm 35 now. I wish I had done it then. I feel like now it's too late, three years later. And it just kept repeating itself over and over again. And I was given my. That's because I had a really crappy story, just telling myself, like, oh, I don't have the time. It's too late to do it. Too late to do it. But the truth was that that desire never left my heart. That desire stayed with me, and now I'm doing things to move towards that. Another example of this was opening a coffee shop. When I had first started in coffee, like, the end goal was to have a cafe, because there was nothing that brought more joy to my face than literally just sitting there pulling shots of espresso. I had thought about opening a cafe, and then I put it off. Just because fears of finances and not being able to earn the income to give me the type of life that I wanted, as well as the freedom that I wanted. But the truth of the matter is, I mean, those were all resources. Those are all things in my control. It's a matter of setting up a business so that it works for you and not you for it. Do I know that process? I don't. Otherwise I would have done it. But what happened was, after I had said no to myself there, years would pass by and I would always have that, like, kind of weighing in my heart that, oh, I want a cafe, I want a cafe. I want a cafe. So much, though, I would see other people taking those actions and I would catch myself actually maybe putting them down or in my mind, like criticizing and critiquing them. I mean, not to say the espresso that they serve was always good. That's a different story. But the fact that they took the action, what I was really doing, I was really upset with myself because I knew there was something that I wanted that I had never taken action on. I was regretting it. Now I'm in a different state of that. I mean, I do love working in cafes, and one day I will have a cafe. But the desires are different. My hierarchy of desires and needs are different now. And it's not to say that it's not to wrong everything that I've experienced up now because I've had amazing experiences. Like, there's a theory called. I think it's called the happiness theory. It's like, whatever we do, whatever decision we make, humans always find a way to flip it and be like, oh, well, you know what? Yeah, that didn't go well. But I got this. They always find a way to spin the happiness most of the time. But the reason I tell you these stories is that I don't want you to experience that same thing. I don't want you to experience and put off those things that, you know that are important to you that 3, 6, 9, 12, however many years later you're going to look back and regret not doing them, that you're going to do like what I did and say, oh, man, three years ago I should have done it. Now, six years passed, oh, three years ago I should have done it. And as time keeps going by, but that desire is still in your heart. Because if it's still there, I mean, it's calling you to do it. What is it for you? What are those things that maybe you've already been putting off? Maybe you experienced something similar to me where you just said it wasn't the right time, but every, like years would pass and you look back and you're like, oh, you know What, I should have done it then. More years pass. Oh, I should have done it then. And like that marker keeps moving forward. So as you get older and older, you're still saying that you should have done it maybe a few years ago. Those are the things you have to act on now because those are the things that are important. Those are the things you're going to regret if you don't do them. More than anything, I want you to experience life in its fullness. I mean my fullness. When I think of my fullness, I mean fullness of life is different for everybody. Fullness for me means traveling, experiencing the world, seeing different cultures, meeting different people, having once in a lifetime experience, and seeing beautiful sights like the aura borealis, the pyramids, all these things. That's what a rich life means to me. Drinking lots of coffee in espresso in Italy, spending time with my family, making new friends, spending time with old friends. What is it for you? Have you ever bothered asking? If not, maybe now's a good time to do so. What does a rich life look like to you? And then when I say a rich life, I'm talking beyond monetary. Like monetary means. I'm talking about the feelings you want to experience, how you want to feel on a daily basis. All the other stuff fades. My happiest moments, I was actually had very little. I would be in Africa having a coffee at this place where the espresso machine was horrendous. It was like leaking everywhere. They couldn't hold a pressure seal on the espresso group head. For those people who know espresso. But nevertheless, the experience was awesome. And I had such a good time because I was there with friends that I met. And those are the kinds of experiences that add value and meaning to my life. What are they for you? I'm going to leave you with a little bit of homework. What does a rich life look like to you? Go ahead and write that down. I'll wait. And then next, what are the things that you'd been putting off saying that you were going to get to them? And as time goes by, you're still thinking about them. Write those down. And lastly, what would happen if you took action on that today? Like assuming the action has already been taken, what kind of experiences would that bring into your life? How would you feel? How would those around you feel? Those close to you? Maybe someone you're sharing the experience with? We spend so much time thinking about the experience leading up to that decision that it scares the crap out of us. And as a result. We don't make the decision. We don't look at the other side when we break through, when we come out the other end. We don't look at what we're going to gain, the experience we're going to gain, how we're going to be able to impact others and what it's going to mean to our own lives. If we did, then we would take the decision. We would make the courageous decision every single time. And it's just a habit. I am not perfect at doing it, but I am learning and I'm prodding myself to look there like, what do you want? What do you want? What do you want? And keep looking. Because the more time you spend looking at that and the more time you experience the feeling of what it is to have that, the more likely you are to take action and take those steps towards it. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. I feel like it's kind of been ebb and flow. This is. I don't even know how many takes I've done of this one recording because I just kept. I have a thing for doing podcasts late at night. It's like 11:30 right now or close to it, and as a result my brain wants to turn off and go to sleep. But I was determined to get this podcast out. So that is it, guys. I hope you enjoyed this again. What are the things you want to do in life and do them live now, because tomorrow comes with no guarantee. Please, if you have any questions, comments, feedback, feel free to send me a message via Instagram. Onny D O N N Y Rouse R A U s Again Donny D o n N Y R A U s if you would like to participate in a workshop, mine, or even a course, you can Check out don donnyrous.com d o n n y r a u s.com I'm not sure what the schedule is going to look like as I'm going to be doing workshops and it's going to be fluctuating. But when they're there, grab them. I promise to deliver as much value as I can, at least to awaken your awareness to those things that your heart desires as well as set those steps in motion to attain them. Again, my intention for you is to live a life of passion, excitement and nonconformity. Really, because the reason why we don't reach for those dreams is because we're conforming to those around us and we don't want to kind of step outside that box. That is it. Have a beautiful and blessed rest of your week. God bless, and I'll see you soon.