Photo © D. Paul Graham, “Elton?”, Hilton Head Island Concours 2023

“Monday 5 Things”™ ….. Living Wildly …..

It was a week of original opportunities, refreshed realizations, fostered fastidiousness, expressed emotions, kindled kindness, choices of compassion, and reflection.  Realigned reflection. The kind of reflection that is raw, honest, goes deep, and leaves you no other choice than to slow down and stop. To just think. And through all the deliberations, I began to picture what living an uninhibited, unapologetic wild-life would look like. And M5T found its way to another Monday.

1. Wildly Uncomfortable

Get comfy with being uncomfortable.  Push yourself to move off of the known, the comfortable, the common ground. Challenge yourself to break routines. Start small and build. Burn a bridge so you can’t turn back. Manage and live the moment – don’t dwell on mistakes and failures from the past. Accept that life doesn’t always go as planned. Make complacency your enemy. You’ll have detours, bumps, and redirects as a part of life. But you’ll also have opportunities that will present themselves to you. Push into the unknown, the unclear, and the uncomfortable this week.

2. Wild Wonder

Take a moment this week to watch a kid. Their sense of amazement and delight will often make us laugh. Today, as you walk out of the house, consciously look at things differently. Start with the little things that you don’t even see anymore in the rush and chaos of a day. Be curious. Literally smell the roses… or here in the south, the azaleas. Read a book that you wouldn’t normally. Learn a new skill. Ask questions. Eat something different. Take a different route to wherever you are headed. Sharpen what you look at, what you listen to, and who you talk to. Visit an art gallery or a museum. Resist rushing. Take a walk where you’ve never been in your city. Rekindle and reconnect with your ability to wonder this week.

3. Wildly Irreverent

Irreverent people are called many things. Free spirits. Independent thinkers. Nonconformists. Dissenters. Unconventional. Radicals. Rebels. I could go on. Living a truly wildly irreverent life is about being and living authentically you. Choose authenticity over social media likes and friends. Honor and embrace your quirks and idiosyncrasies. Redefine what success means to you – not what others deem to be success. Rock the boat. Stand up and speak up for yourself, your beliefs, and your convictions. Stand up and speak up for those that can’t. Accept that your unpopular opinions will be criticized by others, in front of you and behind your back. Listen to what your gut tells you, not what the media forces on you. Diverge from the expectations of others, be true to yourself, and choose some irreverence this week.

4. Wildly Loving

Loving wildly comes in many forms. Compassion, self-control, good intentions, warmth, caring, kindness.  Acts of love, particularly the wild and random variety, impact other people more than we realize. Loving wildly instills passion, motivation, and momentum in relationships. Wildly loving is speaking the truth, embracing the positive and rejecting the negative. Wildly loving is awareness and commitment. Strength and vulnerability. Transformation and connection. Practice some wild loving this week, starting with yourself.

5. Wild Faith

Living with wild faith requires boldness.It requires knowing who you are, what your purpose is in life, and a steadfast refusal to bow to the demands of others. Faith compels confidence, trust, and assurance of the basis of your beliefs, which in themselves are wild. Our faith is never perfect. Reflect on your journey. Be thankful for all you have and all you have experienced in life. Study and know what you believe and why. Have faith that your imperfection is actually part of your uniqueness, your character, and who you have been created to be. Take time to pray, to just be still. Never be afraid to question. Living wild faith brings salt and light to others in your life. Live your faith wildly this week.

Here’s to a week of being unabashedly wild in living your uniqueness this week.

2024 D. Paul Graham, all rights reserved.

For over 12 years, D. Paul Graham has published “Monday 5 Things” ™, also known to readers as M5T.

You can reach Paul by email at dpg@imagegraham.com