What am I doing with my life?
No matter what your career path, there are days when a feeling of monotony creeps in. We question if we are doing the right thing and/or if life could be more fulfilling. Even star performers hit a plateau.
I heard an interview with a young man who stated that he started doing drugs not because he was depressed or that he had a poor upbringing but because he was bored. There are those who quit their jobs in corporate America to work on a fishing boat in Alaska. Then, there are those who do the same thing every day and eventually die.
My contention is that you do not need to find a new job to re-invigorate yourself. All you need to do is manage your life by a few simple principles:
Learn Something New....every day!
Question the Norm
Find Beauty in Everything
Knowledge Expansion
Do you still read books? You should. The process of shutting down the lap top, phone, and I-pad to ponder new doors of perception over the written page is a very healthy practice! If you slow down the multi-tasking, read a story, and align it to your life; you see beyond the general structure....and discover new frontiers.
The most interesting people talk far less than they listen. We have a perception that the most affluent and passionate people are those who have the gift of gab. That is not true. The aforementioned mavericks of innovative thought are consistently consuming new ideas, taking fragments of them, and applying them to their life view. Try it!
Normalcy is not the Answer
A young lady told me recently that she just wanted to be normal. A brutal and mislead shame. I get the fact that growing up means finding a desirable norm. Then over time you come to understand that the club you aspired to be part of is a sham. Adulthood is no different.
It is profoundly simple to fit into the system. ANYONE can follow the rules and succeed. It is a matter of writing down tasks, taking action, and checking a list. Yes, it takes effort but it does not take ingenuity.
Every great leader, successful athlete, and amazing musician did something different. It is far more important to put your distinct style into playing guitar than to learn the chords perfectly. You will not differentiate yourself by doing the same thing that everyone else does better than they do it. Eventually this is the premise for the aforementioned burn out and it's correlated pondering of life's larger meaning. To follow the over-trampled path makes your existence a commodity. Life is a guitar solo not a chord progression.
If the light peaking through the trees doesn't strike you as a miracle you are forgetting to observe what is genuinely important. We chase questions though our tunnel vision while we whisk by the answers.
There was a point in your life when you believed in things, when you were excited, when predictability was the fodder of old people. Get that feeling back!
"life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it"
- Ferris Bueller
Don't Forget to Remember!
Dave
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