"Life is the greatest teacher"
“Life is the greatest teacher” but I believe it is up to us to recognize and adjust to the patterns it shows us. I was always a ‘why’ or ‘how come’ kid. Somewhere in my late twenties I just stopped asking questions and started to just accept things as they are. Get a job, work long hours, support your family, give your kids the things you missed out on, pour into your spouse, maintain some decent level of health, and repeat until you die.
I remember one restless night in particular. It had to be close to 1AM. I was in my early forties lying in bed and looking at the ceiling fan spin and thinking, “This is my life. I am just doing the same thing over and over. Is this REALLY all there is to my life?” I tell you my soul ached so much; it made my eyes water and gravity took those tears down the side of my face into my ears. I eventually fell asleep and ignored that feeling as daily duties took over as distractions. However, that feeling was like a hangnail that would get snagged on coarse fabric occasionally.
What is Your Story?
I chose to no longer settle for what happens to me
This went on for a few years. Diversion after diversion, distraction after distraction, avoiding the truth and pushing down that feeling every time it would rise. At the time they were all good reasons as to why I didn’t want to sit with my thoughts. But let’s be honest: reasons are just well-dressed excuses.
Later, when life was lifeing, I was asked a question that my very being needed to hear to trigger this journey. “So what do you like to do for yourself? You have given to everyone around you, but what about you? What do YOU like to do for YOURSELF, not anyone else?” As a trained public speaker, there is always a comeback or a retort to be used. But at that very moment, my mind flashed ‘No data found’ and my soul would not have permitted anything but the absolute truth to come out of my mouth anyway. So for the first time in my adult life, I lowered my gaze, shook my head, and softly said, “I.. I really don’t know.” By whispering what my soul had been screaming, I felt a physical relief of tension that I didn’t know was accumulating.
Well, here we are a few years later. When I had a few deeper conversations with close friends and family, I found we all had encountered that same gut wrenching feeling and suffered in silence. I realized I certainly was not the first person to feel this way and won’t be the last. I simply decided to document and share the path that I have taken to places spiritually, mentally, and physically that I would never have dreamed. I chose to no longer settle for what happens to me; I chose then and I will forever choose to UpgradeMyLife.
