Life rarely ever stalls. It changes constantly and if you’re not aligned with the changes it happens anyway. Forcefully. A lot of us resist change as it is uncomfortable and takes us outside of what we know very well how to deal with. All quite understandable.
This year has been a year of drastic changes for me – career, home and my daughter going to high school.
As I’m still settling into the career changes after an extended visit to see my family in India, I’m having serious job withdrawal symptoms (it is real my 9-5 employed folks! :))
I’m now packing to move in a few days from my house that’s been more home than any in the past.
Both difficult changes for me.
I’ve been hustling for more than 20 years now. School, undergrad, work, grad school, work again, kiddo, doctors visits with a sick kiddo, work, stock trading, options trading, real estate, more work, more real estate. Worrying about grades in school. Top of the class. Entrance exams for college. Doing well in college. Distinction every semester. Great job in India. More entrance exams for grad school. More grades to worry about. Thesis due. Work commitments due. Kid schedule to manage. Doctor’s visits to co-ordinate. Divorce. Dating. Worry. Stress. Anxiety. It never stops. And then it does. For some of us when our kids leave home and we are empty-nesters. Some of us when we have a serious health issue that sets us back and forces us to sit still. Some of us when we have a drastic career change that forces us to reevaluate how we have been living. Like me!
There’s not been a time besides vacation that I really sat still. Even my vacations were busy. My vacations are generally travels to faraway and exotic places where I am occupied most of the time too. I’m just used to being busy. I’m not nicknamed “Energizer Bunny” for nothing! 😁
Reminds me of “Shawshank Redemption” where Morgan Freeman who’s a prisoner for 40 something years is freed on parole. He says he can’t pee without asking for permission anymore. I wake up and I’m looking at my calendar for the meeting schedule of the day and while I’m getting investor meetings lined up my schedule is nowhere near as packed and regimented as working full time and doing real estate part time for the past 10 years. I’m used to being super busy. I’m too used to the madness and hustle. I’m too used to not sitting still. Which incidentally has been an ah-ha moment. A lot of us get used to being busy. So busy we don’t have time to just be.
Just “being” is as important to our lives as “doing:. While doing satisfies life’s external demands, your outside world, “being” satisfies your inner world. It brings peace and stillness to your soul.
While it’s good to stay busy so you don’t overthink things. It’s also critical to have times to be still and have space for some quiet time. Meditation, stillness, long walks. They are cathartic in a lot of ways.
The “being times” also make the “doing times” more productive.
Just take some time to watch the leaves rustle in the breeze. The morning air dewy on your face. The steps you take when you’re walking. The greenery around you.
While you’re scrambling to do the next biggest thing in your life, rushing time to get to the next goal, take time to appreciate how far you’ve come, how green the grass is this year in Texas or how pretty the flowers look in spite of the heat.
Wherever in the world you are take time to appreciate the environment you live in and focus on all that you’ve been given and just sit still for a few minutes everyday.
Most times we let life just pass us by in that busyness. And almost always that busyness is not even productive. It’s just being busy for the sake of it.
It’s a western world myth. It makes us feel good about constantly doing something. Makes us feel like slackers for just being. Avoid falling for it. Stillness fuels your imagination and creativity. It fuels your soul to do bigger more purposeful things.
Take some time to reflect on how you can filter out “busy” work from truly “productive” work. It’s truly enlightening to me how much time I’ve spent being busy without having anything to show for it.
Grateful today for the long walks and tired puppies, my morning coffee and times of stillness and being.
