liveupsidedown: what it means to live life intentionally

This is year I will turn 40.

And I love it.

Sincerely.

Without a doubt.

And my goal, as the minutes roll into days, roll into months, roll into years, is to live life upside down.

Last year I received a Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant and I started a YouTube channel called teachupsidedown. The purpose was, and still is, to create outside the box videos and lesson plans that reach every student with every learning style – looking at the way kids learn differently and capitalizing on those abilities.

That easily translated to my blog: liveupsidedown. Because I want to live life intentionally – reaching into every nook and cranny life has to offer and living every day as if it were the best day ever.

Because if today were my last day, I would want it to be my best day. Therefore, I want to live every day that way. I wake up and tell myself,

“Today is the best day ever.”

I can’t choose what happens to me.

But I choose how I respond to it.

And that means to choose joy.

So, this whole “liveupsidedown” thing. What does it mean? What am I striving for? What am I trying to accomplish? How am I going to live upside down?

I’m so glad you asked…

When I say “liveupsidedown,” these are the steps of the ladder I am daily breathing in – taking in as part of my lifestyle. Do I always get it? Nope. But there is a certain joy that comes with the journey to living the best life.

The Art and Practice of Living Upside Down

Choose Joy (choose choose choose and choose again)
Celebrate each day as the BEST DAY EVER (because if today were my last I would want it to be my best)
Push the walls of the box (spend as much time as possible outside of it)
Stand up for beliefs that mean something (don’t just say it, seriously stand up – even when that means everyone else might stand in the opposite direction)
Face fears and be brave (the only thing TRULY to fear is fear – so don’t fear)
Create, innovate (make, draw, paint, write, sing, dance, compute, invent)
Live simply, organically, naturally (shed the excess, keep learning the definition of excess for my own family)
Be vulnerable and transparent (raw and honest, real in word and deed)
Treat relationships as more important than possessions (cardboard box rule – if I live in one, it’s okay – just surround myself with the people I love)
Embrace kindness as an everyday lifestyle (even when it is hard)
Adventure, adventure, adventure (climb mountains, bicycle my little heart out, seek new lands and new treasures)
Glean from every soul met (learn from relationships, give to relationships)
Get that crazy on (try new things, do new things, experience new things – take The Plunge)
Love, serve (and love, serve again)
Imitate Jesus (by allowing Him to do it for me – His strength, not mine)