License To Live is a Social Enterprise aiming to foster creativity, innovation and discovery by removing barriers to expression. We do this by creating and distributing Licenses which give you permission to do and say anything you want, two important ways of starting the creative process. By encouraging expression, we believe that we can facilitate creativity and help people positively impact themselves, their community and the world as a whole!
Our licenses are designed to help you do the kinds of things you typically feel inhibited to do. Stop for a moment and think about the world you live in. Let’s start with the clothes people wear...Most people wear matching socks every day. Tons of people wear the same clothes to work each week. VERY few people do anything original! Ever wonder why?
Now think about a social setting...bars, clubs, parties. How many people go the same places every week and then stand around talking to the same people each time? People love the excitement of meeting others, making new friends, and learning from each other, yet how many times do we stand around in a bar and NOT talk to someone who is on their own or bored. Why not?
The truth is that we live in a world packed with social guidelines that are completely ridiculous. Why aren’t you more impulsive? Why don’t you say what you really think instead of going with the crowd? Why don’t you trust your instincts? Why don’t you stand your ground when someone disagrees with you? Why do you have to act your age? Why don’t you chase your dreams? Why don’t you break out dancing on the subway when your favourite song comes on your iPod? What are you afraid of?
Think about how silly these social guidelines are and how funny it is that we all follow them. It’s ok, you can laugh out loud. I thought we stopped bowing to peer-pressure in high school! No, I’m afraid not. Grown men and women every day are living their lives the way they are told to live...by their friends, their jobs, by society’s rules. Let’s move on people.
Now that you’ve realized how silly these things are, it’s time to laugh at them and start living. Free yourself from the pressure of conformity, throw away the chains of social constraint, and begin living your life with the freedoms you always had. Give yourself a license and take your life to the next level.
Already there, you say? Don’t need a license to live? What about the world around you? How much better is life when you have company? How good does it feel to help someone else? The art of gifting is a rewarding but underused practice. Give someone a License to Live. Exercise your right to practice random acts of kindness. Simple gifts will make someone’s day and give you priceless rewards in return, especially when your gift makes someone laugh and shows them how well you know them.
Make sense? Get it now? Awesome! Have a look at the licenses we’ve made and get involved. Stop watching your life go by and start to make a difference. Live the life you want to live or help someone else with theirs. I promise you that life will get better than it already is!