Stick with me here. It is finally Friday. You are at work bouncing between multiple issues, celebrating wins, learning from the losses. Then you hop in your car to go home and pack the car to go camping. You drive there, running through the items you packed, hoping the weather holds out for a nice weekend. You busy yourself setting up the tent, getting the sleeping bags ready and starting the fire. Finally, you are able to relax under a rare clear sky full of so many stars that it takes your breath away.
You begin to think about how many stars there are. How many of those stars do not even exist anymore but we can still see them because of distance and speed of light. Science is crazy. You think about how small you feel in comparison to a universe so large it is beyond your comprehension. Your individual self on a planet for such a finite time compared to the rest of the universe. It doesn’t seem fair we have such a short amount of time here. In fact, it feels so unfair the time we have been given compared to others. We start thinking about things we still want to do, see, accomplish… So there you are….exestential crisis on your family camping trip. Nice.
Then your mind flashes back to the topic you have been hyperfocused on for the last week. That customer you just can’t seem to get on the same page with. That off-handed statement someone made that you have been thinking on so much that you have now convinced yourself they are hateful and out to get everything you hold dear. The anger you felt when karma did not decend on those who wronged you, but good fortune continues to rain on them. All of these random things, they all start to feel much smaller standing under the endless sky.
You start comparing those irritations and problems to your larger goals and realize dwelling on them is not going to help you get where you want to go. In fact, it is using up precious time and energy, distracting you from what you find fulfilling. In that moment, you can decide if this thing continues to stand in your way or if you are going to choose to step around it and fight the battles worth fighting.
You are finding yourself asking questions like:
- “Why am I still going to that event every week, when I leave feeling frustrated or bored everytime?”
- “Why am I working so hard to try and make them happy?”
- “What would my life look like if accomplished that goal?”
- “What if I checked out that new pottery class?”
- “What if I started writing that book?”
- “What if I focused on paying off that loan?”
- “What if I reached out on fostering?”
- “I wonder if I could find a class on that?”
- “How could I start saving up for that trip, even if I can’t go this year, maybe I would have enough in a few years?”
It started with booking a campsite and ended with re-evaluating your priorities so you can take the next step in a direction that benefits you. The situation above touches on being wrapped up in a very hectic world, taking time to slow down and putting yourself in a position that allows you to look your life in a new way. This is an example of mindfulness, intentional living, slow living, whatever you want to call it.
I would encourage you to think about a time in your life you have had a situation like this. You allowed yourself time to slow down, change your scenery, meet someone new, try something new, or maybe even revist the past with a new perspective.
These are the moments I find myself going back to and appreciating. They are empowering moments. Moments of realizing I was wrong. Moments of realizing I am falling back into bad habits. Moments that turned me the right way, so I could keep walking, but now in the right direction.
I want to be a new version of myself. I want to look back and see the version upgrades I received over time. I want to look back and barely recognize that person I was. I want to look back and appreciate the journey that brought me here. I want to look forward and envision who I want to be.
You do not need go on a trip to have these moments in your life. If you want to have moments like these, I would encourage looking into mindfulness habits that can help cultivate these thoughts more often to help bring focus to what does matter and weed out what doesn’t.
