As you sip your cup of tea this morning, while you get ready for another monotonous day, have a think about this; Your life is passing you by, and you don't even see it.
"What?!" You might say. Bear with me for the length of this article, and see if you have the same reaction when you reach the end.
How does your day look today?
During the work week, it might look something like;
- Wake up, get ready for work. Be groggy. Mope around the house while dreading the day ahead.
- Commute to work. At the same time every day, following the same (or similar) path.
- Perform said work. Deal with the same political crap each day. The same feeling of being overloaded and underpaid. Dream about how you would rather be home.
- Commute home. At the same time every day, following the same (or similar) path.
- Perform the same nightly chores. Make dinner, bath the kids. Watch mindless T.V., read a book. Ask yourself whether it's the weekend yet.
- Go to bed.
What about the weekend?
- Wake up.
- Feel too lazy to do anything productive, so go shopping instead.
- Feel guilty, do house chores anyway.
- Do an activity you enjoy like biking, hiking, sewing.
- Visit friends, watch a movie.
- Go to bed.
For some of you, that might seem ok. It's about taking life one day at a time, right? Doing what needs to be done, rather than what you want to do. It's the right thing to do…
I say bollocks to that!
Why? Why do we allow ourselves to be restricted like this. We are naturally curious beings. We love to create, to learn, to understand the world around us. Yet we have been trained and guided into submission.
You are living your life with a false sense of achievement. Take a few seconds and think back over the last 6 month to a year. Ask yourself what have you achieved?
Maybe you finished reading a book? Watched a season of Game of Thrones? Achieved level 100 in the game you're playing? What have you actually achieved? Ultimately, not much.
A whole year has gone by, and you're still in the same place you were before. Doing the same thing, with the same concerns, fears, and worries.
I used to be like this – I still am. I get lulled into a false sense of achievement when I have a slight change in schedule, performed an extra house task, or even wanting to buy a newer phone.
These are not achievements.
They still sit within your comfort zone. And before you know it, months have passed – years have passed. How often do you hear people say that the years are flying by? It is because we are stuck in a monotonous rut.
What happened to your dreams of the future? How have you tested and pushed yourself? Have you taken action on them? Or come up with excuses.
I performed this little exercise on myself. 2 years ago, it would have looked rather mediocre, with the only real difference being me starting this blog and doing some freelance writing.
In the last year, though, my life has changed. My family's life has changed. Our eyes have been opened to the possibility that we can break this mould we're in.
To give you some context, I've run 2 10km races, I've studied social psychology, Neuro-linguistic programming techniques, and social media marketing, I've changed my eating habits to cut out sugar (mostly), and spent more time with my boys than ever before. My wife and I are starting businesses (which is extremely new to us).
Although these are only small changes, I've had to push myself mentally and physically. It's surprising to see how far we can go when we step out of our comfort zone.
What is really interesting, though, is by experiencing all these new factors in my life, this past year has felt longer. I've enjoyed each day a lot more. I am paying more attention to what's in front of me, rather than waiting for a T.V. show tonight or the lazy weekend.
I urge you to change something in your schedule today. It could be the spark to break you out of the monotony you've been feeling for a while.
You are more than the chores you need to do, or the work you need to attend to. Take the plunge and do something you're not entirely comfortable with. You won't regret it.
