Tags
change, encouragement, how to live life, inspiration, learning to live, living life, new start, self help, starting over, the important things
Sometimes I just think “what is all this for?” All the running around, the worrying, the achieving, the pushing onward and upward towards some sort of success. What are we doing it for, really? Homes and offices are filled with trophies and certificates and it never seems enough. Once one thing is accomplished there is a sigh of relief and then in that very same second the rush is gone and then the search for the next big thing begins. And with life it seems you can never have enough so my question is what is all this actually for? A sense of accomplishment? Bragging rights? Financial security? And, is it worth it?
Going. Doing. Being. What actually blossoms from these things? I work with people who spend their entire lives coddling their career. Their families, their vacations, their lives are second to their job. And when you actually get down to the nuts and bolts of the real motivation behind it, sadly I have found there really is none. Retirement maybe. A secure future they claim. But who has tomorrow? Aren’t we all only promised this moment? We only have now. Am I saying not to plan? No. I am just wondering where the living is. Where the whole living thing fits into the plan? Because chasing after things, accomplishment, credentials, certificates, education, building a career is not living to me. That is planning. Preparing. Living sneaks in the back door of our plans. It quietly enters the room and waits for us to greet it amidst the chaos.
Living comes in the moments we often take for granted. The soft “I love you’s” as you rush out the door. The gentle rain that falls in such a beautiful nurturing way to feed the earth, as we cover our heads and run through it. The crinkle in someones smile as we are gulping down our lunches. The phone calls we miss or never even make to those we love. Living is so much simpler than we like, it’s not complicated enough for us, so we miss it. Whether the sun rises or sets, it makes no different in the course of our day. Sharing a meal, a laugh, a part of ourselves… those are such trivial things in our lives compared to that promotion, that new house, the honor that we get to receive in the midst of a crowd. These things we find important and these things alone. But in the end, they pile up on a dusty shelf, they sit in a frame on a lonely wall and the past is the past. Yet we’ve never learned to live in the moment, we don’t appreciate the moment. So when there is nothing left to accomplish, no time left to strive, that is when everything that was built, everything that was gained begins to lose its shine. And what most people crave is to be known. To be loved. To feel they have made a difference in the world. That is when humans begin to discover what it actually means to live. And it’s always just a bit too late.
Your life is now. Live it! See the people around you. Engage with them. Open your heart. Let out your creative thoughts and aspirations. Laugh. Take the long way home. Open the windows when you drive and let the wind whip your hair around. Kick off your high heels. Go outside and play. Connect with and listen to God. Success is admirable, but to truly learn to live is an unplanned joy that will never leave you.
