Change can be difficult. Our habits become ingrained and we often move through the day with little thought as to what we are doing.
We wake up, shower, get dressed, go to work, come home, watch TV or play games, go to bed, and repeat.
Weekends are different, but also the same. There may be social activities, but there are also routines like grocery shopping, cleaning, taking the kids places, or taking yourself somewhere.
Life has a flow to it, and we can predict with some certainty what we will be doing in one year or six months because it is very similar to what we were doing one year ago.
But what if you feel like you are doing something you aren’t meant to be doing? What if you are someone you aren’t supposed to be?
When there is little joy in life, when the day-to-day routine of surviving and taking care of the mundane is all there is, then maybe you did get it wrong.
Do you really want to think that you are only here to pay the bills and raise the kids and keep a roof over your head?
I choose to look at life as something special. Everywhere I look I see evidence of this, in the amazing sunrises and sunsets, the breathtaking mountains, and the deep mysterious oceans. I marvel at the rhythm of life, how seasons change as they always do, how we are living on a beautiful blue planet that is moving swiftly through space as it orbits the sun.
None of this existence seems ordinary to me. The very fact that I am here suggests that I am not meant to be ordinary either.
It is important to take care of the basics. If you are struggling to survive, then nothing existential matters. You need at least to have food and shelter, and some feeling of safety. These are things most of us take for granted, yet in many parts of the world there are millions of people who are unable to achieve even the bare minimum.
That seems very wrong.
If you are one of the fortunate though, it also seems wrong to waste a life that is so precious and fragile. Wishing that things were different without actually doing anything about it is ludicrous.
People with far less than you are achieving far more. There are many wonderful souls who maneuver through life in bodies that are less than complete, saddled with physical limitations but not allowing that to interfere with the full expression of who they came here to be.
Stephen Hawking was a beautiful mind inside of a body that limited him greatly in the physical world. Perhaps that is why he was able to develop his theories and add so much to the world of knowledge, because his mind had nothing to do other than postulate.
As you move through the various stages of life, there may come a time when what you have always done just isn’t enough anymore. You begin to sense that something is missing, and the search for that begins.
Some will have affairs, or get divorced, looking for fulfillment in the physical. Others will change careers or retire, needing to stimulate themselves intellectually in a completely new way.
There are others who will sink into depression, feeling that life has been a waste and lamenting the fact that they could have done so much more but didn’t. Many will turn to alcohol or drugs to escape the inner condemnation of not having achieved all that was possible.
But as long as you are still breathing, you can begin to strive towards becoming a better version of yourself. It all begins with acknowledging that you are feeling unhappy or unfulfilled.
The step that you take after that could be the one that changes everything you think you are.