Live Like Nobody Is Watching
We like to use clichés such as “dance like nobody is watching you,” when describing attitudes attributed to a life well-lived.
I previously interpreted the saying “dance like nobody’s watching you” as encouragement to get beyond human feelings of shame or embarrassment. I thought the premise was that we dance differently depending on whether people are watching. I couldn’t get beyond the part that involved people watching me (or not.)
I used to think that the saying implies that we have an audience as we encounter these silly little lives of ours. Now, I disagree. I think I lost something vital in my being when I likened life to a live performance. That mindset took things that I once did—not due to praise but because it was as intuitive as breathing to me—like reading ferociously, or writing poetry and songs, and it morphed them from honest soliloquies into flashy dialogues.
Living like nobody is watching you—as I now see it—is re-connecting to what is FUN. To what we LOVE and gravitate to. To what we are interested in. Living like nobody is watching you is as simple as making a beautiful bouquet of flowers in the town garden, finding—creating—a safe haven amidst the bustle and hustle of a beach town in the peak of August heat and tourism.
Sure, to live as if there’s no audience involves moving through the initial fear of “what will they think of me??”
[If you find yourself thinking this often, Brianna Wiest would recommend that you ask yourself, “what will YOU think of you?” Which I also recommend as an exercise in sharpening your intuition.]
The rest of the philosophy necessitates that we live in a manner that is true to our being. That does not go against our nature, but flows with it. it is the antithesis of chasing burn out, and it requires that we ask ourselves, “why are we in such a rush to become someone we don’t even LIKE?” — a question at the core of the book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (thank you @vivianleechambers).
For me, it’s singing and dancing without worry of whether anyone is noticing. It’s doing that because I LOVE SINGING AND DANCING! I think it’s fun! My soul sings when I lose myself in music. Living like nobody is watching means that we are living without seeking validation from one person to the next. It means we KNOW we belong so we don’t worry about attaining a sense of meaning from each thing we do.
Living like nobody is watching is a philosophy I am imparting on my own life. It is a mission statement. To live with integrity. Authenticity. Joy. Faith. Nature blooms no matter if humans notice. The sun rises and sets in all her glory regardless if we praise her for it! Birds chirp away each morning without an audience begging, “ENCORE!”
So, what if we tried it? Tried to live like nobody is watching. Tried to live in accordance with that which we were born to do, no matter who validated us (or doesn’t.)