Living Intentionally: A purposeful examination of a life well lived.

By Vernon Hiller | Guest Contributor for SG Productions

By: Vernon Hiller for Sankarsingh-Gonsalves Productions

Photo by Tj Holowaychuk on Unsplash

What would it take for you to be deliberate in building a balanced and purposeful life for yourself? Have you ever considered whether your life is actually good, or merely good enough?  I've often wondered what things would need to be put in place to create a life worth living. 

In my late teens, after my parents had gone through a bitter divorce. My father would often ask, “What’s it all about Vern?”  Although it was no doubt a rhetorical question, I remember thinking that if he didn’t have a clue, then what chance did I have at figuring it out.  

Several decades and a truck load of experiences later, I’ve learned that it’s all about growth, living our values, and striving to be a better person. However, these tasks aren’t always so easy to achieve, because they often require a deep dive into what makes us tick. 

Building habits that support personal growth and align with our values takes commitment, introspection, and critical self-evaluation.  It demands examining our choices, being honest about our insecurities, and questioning our motives.  A willingness to be vulnerable in our introspection is crucial to building intentionally proactive habits, rather than functioning from a place of reactive complacency.  

The inevitable routine of daily life can result in us living on auto-pilot. We drive the same route to work, complete the same daily tasks, engage in familiar conversations, and then do it all over again the next day. But what if we walked through our days with more deliberation and developed weekly plans that outlined the daily actions we would take?  

When we look back on our childhood, the future seemed filled with wondrous possibility.  But as the years passed and the weight of the world began to encroach on our optimism, we gradually adjusted our goals and dreams until they reached what I like to call…a reasonable level of acceptance. This form of societal grounding often asks us to settle for a routine of responsible mediocrity. Finish school, find your role, and settle in.  But never underestimate the importance of pursuing interests, exploring new possibilities, and creating opportunities that you might otherwise never have considered.

It’s hard to be the best partner, parent, friend or leader, if one fails to engage in ongoing self-development and growth. By delaying or ignoring opportunities for personal growth, we do a disservice not only to ourselves, but to those who’ve invested themselves in us.  

As a teenager I was ill equipped to answer the question my father had posed. Today, with the benefit of a full life that has included joy and pain, happiness and loss, strength and struggle, I now know the answer to the question, “What’s it all about Vern?” - It’s about finding a way to balance our intellectual, spiritual, physical and emotional sides.  It’s about making personal growth a purposeful choice. It’s about being accountable for our actions and outcomes. It is about living with intent, being deliberately cognitive about our thoughts, words and deeds, and owning the participatory role we play in our own happiness and the happiness of those around us. 

Living a life in balance and harmony connects us more intimately with our values, and teaches us how to better balance our time between work, family, interests and pursuits. - It is all about being a better person, not settling for good enough, and ultimately, using intentionality to avoid becoming complacent regarding a life we absolutely have the power to build. 

About the Author:

Vernon Hiller is a decorated District Chief of Operations with the Toronto Fire Services and has served the city for over 36 years. He is a Board member with LEADR - a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to providing literacy tutoring for adults in Durham Region. - Having struggled with ADHD as a child, Vernon is passionate about helping others discover the potential that hides within them.