Would you consider yourself to be a happy person? I know, I know, happiness is subjective, but if your BFF’s were asked to use three words to describe you, would “happy” (or joyful, lighthearted, carefree) be one of them?
I don’t ask the question to make you feel guilty for not smiling more or because I think you need to be in a constant state of bliss to have a life of meaning. I ask the question because I feel like a lot of people are settling for a less-than-happy existence.
Are you settling?
When I talk with meeting planners before we head into a speaking event, they inevitably tell me the same exact thing over and over. It’s a broken record and as predictable as a fourth grade boy filling in the word “poop” for a noun in Mad Libs. They say…
My people are overwhelmed with their lives. They are over-scheduled because everyone in the household is going a million different directions. They are out-of-balance, tired, stressed, and anxious about the future. They are running on “E” and don’t seem to plan to change anything anytime soon. This is their life and they’ve resigned themselves to it.”
If you’re ever feeling like you are a part of this category, you are not alone by any means.
In fact, you are so “normal” it’s boring.
My question to you is this: Do you WANT to be this boring? This predictable? This BLAH?
Not I, said the fly!
Seriously, it’s a waste. Life was not meant to be this way.
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
–John 10:10
Make that U-turn and start moving along a path that is life-giving. What do you have to lose, your life is already plain-vanilla. Take a risk! Cut a few activities. Go down to half-time. Move closer to family. Dare to be the only house on the block to all be home for a family dinner five nights a week. Cry in front of someone. Be more spontaneous. Take your kids out of school to go on vacation. Drink from a twisty straw. Show up at work with fun clothes. Make purple pancakes for breakfast. Wear red Crocs. Send someone flowers just because. Instigate a water fight with your kids — on a school morning.
Whatever it looks like for you — if your life has been just “going through the motions” — STOP IT. You’re wasting a precious gift and it’s really starting to get annoying – to me, to those you love… and honestly, to YOU too, right?
If the thought of truly living (and not just existing) gets your heart fluttering a little with a healthy mix of joyful excitement and anxiety, then you’re moving in the right direction. Keep heading towards that feeling. Don’t stop when the “but what abouts” or the “but I need tos” start getting in the way.
No one can make you stop being boring. Only YOU.
What will you do this week to jump off the boring road to nowhere?
Hey Kim,
You know what…whenever anyone tells me I’m a little weird, or “out there”, or “off the deep end”, or crazy…or anything like that – I take that as a pretty sweet compliment!! Up next? A weekend trip for my daughter and I to NYC next weekend…and we’ll be a little bit crazy while we are there, too!!
And just so you know…I happen to think you lean a bit toward that “crazy” side, too…and that’s pretty awesome!!!
I like the analogy of the “boring road to nowhere.” Many are overly concerned with staying on the road… a definitive path, regardless of where it is taking them.
Sometimes its good to jump off the path and blaze your own trail.