It’s so easy to get wrapped up in everyone else’s stories, ideas, mantras, proposals, five ways to succeed, and you must do this to get that. I’ve gone to the deep end of getting overwhelmed and worried about how to get some idea incorporated into what I’m already doing to the opposite deep end of doing nothing. It’s much like a see-saw in that no matter what seat you’re on, you can be flying high looking out over the world but, at some point, your butt hits the ground.
I’ve just moved to Colorado. A life-long dream and as I write this, I’m trying to work my way off the ground. We’re in a vacation rental (with the costs associated) and biding time till we close on a house that sits on an acre, on the side of a mountain, in the trees. Sounds like bliss, huh? No. I am in such a state of rebuild, and flux that I’m feeling very much like that gal on the bottom seat of the see-saw. Unsettled is another good word for it. I admit to hoping my new place doesn’t have the best signal so I (and my partner can disconnect) and yet, I realize then I won’t be able to come here to read or write!
The mere fact that I’m writing tells me, my feet are planted, and I’m preparing to push off and start the seat rising off the ground. What got me moving again? A combination of things, not the least of being, becoming very cynical of everyone else’s ideas on how to live my life. The trends are evident in the fast-paced media world we’ve become. We are so tuned into them, you’ll see them as soon as you are made aware that they’re important right now. Sorry, I’m about to make you aware of some of them.
Failure isn’t so bad. Top 5, 10, or 25 reasons for anything. Click-bait. Successful entrepreneurs do this every morning. Meditate and your worries disappear. Yoga keeps you young.
Recently, the push has been to tell the world, “If I knew then, what I know now, what would I tell my younger self to do differently?” After a few false starts to writing an answer to that prompt, I realized the only answer could be to “stay the course.” If we change anything about our past, the messy or the picture perfect, we change who we are at this moment. Then we wouldn’t have a need to tell ourselves anything. Or would we? I mean, if we change something back then, we’ll be perfect now! Please tell me you don’t believe that.
I’m NOT nay-saying anything that others have done that has created the notion we must click, link, sign-up for, or even download. I AM nay-saying the following along like we’re all a bunch of fall tree leaves with no purpose but to go where the wind blows us. I too hope that my app gets purchased, that you click and read this, then pass along to your friends, and maybe sign-up for my newsletter. But here’s the rub. I don’t want you to do it for me. I want you to do it because YOU WANT TO.
By all means, if you’re struggling with a personal failure, or you want to try yoga, then go ahead and read what others have done to overcome and persevere. But take what speaks to you, what utterly provides you with an “aha” moment, and make it yours!
Kris Karr says:
“If it’s not a full-body yes, it’s a no”
A mentor of mine said this about her teachings:
“Eat the chicken and spit out the bones”
Yes, I realize I took the above statements from someone else, but I did so because they spoke to my soul. We have access to so much information leading us to the prevailing winds, but it’s time for us to collectively become individuals again. I think it’s time to stop making life a business, and start making life liveable again. If the SEO on this post doesn’t get the right attention, I lose my audience, BUT, I realize that those that will read it, needed to or wanted to for a reason. And my hope is they get something from it, even if it’s thinking I’m out of my mind. Why? Because that is their individual response.
Think about this when you’re absorbing everything, everyone else is telling you-you must do, ~ if everyone invented lightbulbs at the same moment, then why the hell is Einstein important?