If you’re not constantly taking action, you’re not living. Period.
There are only two ways to live your life:
Embrace suffering, and align your beliefs with your actions.
Ignore suffering, and divorce your beliefs from actions.
Embracing suffering is the stepping stone to overcoming suffering. Life = suffering. Running from this truth will cause more pain in the long term.
Unifying your beliefs and actions is living the examined life; when these two are aligned that’s where the magic happens: enlightenment. And when joined with embracing suffering is where the self is made.
The self is not given. It is forged through constant action.
“At 15, I set my heart on learning; at 30, I firmly took my stand; at 40, I had no delusions; at 50, I knew the mandate of Heaven; at 60, my ear was attuned; at 70, what my heart desired and what is right aligned." - Confucius
Belief without action is dead. The most challenging thing to do is to go where your beliefs take you.
Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics stated: Happiness, then is found to be something perfect and self-sufficient, being the end to which our actions are directed.
To live the examined life, you need to be constantly taking ACTION. Knowledge without action is foolishness.
Here are a few things to help you get started:
Stick to your word.
Train a martial art (BJJ, MMA, Muay Thai, or Boxing).
Cultivate an action-oriented life by taking small actions every day.
Practice silence.