Apparently, that’s what Warren Buffett once said. We all trust his capabilities in the money making business, but how to really survive your life? Those readers who regularly read my #surviveyourlife monthly newsletter now know that the answer is not so obvious.

Most of us don’t face any dramatic, life-threatening survival situations every day. Every year. Or even never. Hence the real question to answer is: how to live my life so that I feel connected, engaged, useful, how to live my life fully? And survive…

For me, life must be full of action. Then I feel alive, full of energy. This year was indeed full of action!

We kicked of with scuba diving and sailing trip around Komodo National Park in January, continued to Sumba exploring amazing nature around our friend’s resort Ngalung Kalla in February, sailed more than 1000 nautical miles from Kupang to Manado through Banda Sea (more about the trip here) in March, followed by the second trip of our enduro riding enthusiast to Mongolia (more about the adventure here) in May, our son successfully finished his Green Stone project and graduated from Green School Bali in June, got accepted to the university in UK, my friend and I rode our motorbikes off-road around Czech Republic in August, summer continued with another friend’s visit with sailing around Barcelona, one weekend with my kindergarden mates and another one with the university buddies (beware, lots of alcohol!), a beautiful, rite-of-passage sort of ride with my son through Europe to UK in a campervan, one week reunion with the rest of the family in Bangkok, back to Bali and voila, the end of the year is here. All of that while building my company business, launching another one with the amazing partners, teaching several freediving courses and volunteering at school. What a ride again! See few images below the post.

Did I survive? So much so that it feels like 2022 was a bit too much. I know, who would have expected a statement like this from Dan! Especially the last quarter of the year seemed like a race and now I truly feel that the batteries have been exhausted below the optimum level.

This is exactly the right moment to…….stop. Or at least to pause. Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Take it easy for a couple of weeks. Recuperate the energy. Eat ice-cream. Have a massage. Do nothing. In my case, ‘doing nothing’ of course still means exercise daily, go for a short run, meet friends as I am not able to stay completely still. But disconnect from screens for some time and enjoy tranquillity of rice paddies around us. I know that a couple of calm days or weeks will recharge my batteries to the full again.

How was your year? Was it a slow coach or rather a drag (car) race? Several drag races in a row or more like a marathon? Usual marathon or more like a marathon in Antarctica? (Google it if your are interested.)

Whatever your year has been like, now (or anytime) is a good moment to pause, connect with yourself, check your batteries, do something for yourself and your inner peace. It will pay back.

Which brings us back to money where we started. Money is obviously not everything but it helps to have some. You can share with those in need (this year we continued to sponsor education of our foster daughter in India and helped another girl from Sumba to finish her degree) or alternatively you can go on more trips 😉

Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year of 2023! #surviveyourlife

Yours,

Dan

PS: If you like to do something for your fitness in 2023, here is a chance to join the ExFitt Fitness Program for free.