Wake up. It’s a new day today. New experiences, new sights to see, new people to meet, new places to go to, new activities, new feelings altogether. Today will be exciting and fun.
But what if that isn’t the case? What if each day feels the same? Did you have to wake up to live the previous day? Questioning yourself every day: ‘What’s in it for me?’ Worse still, what if it felt like you only get if you give. You have to sacrifice some of your time, your space, your moments, only for you to get back some joy, some feel-good factor of your own. Sometimes life can feel very transactional.
What could be the reason for feeling this way? Maybe that’s where the issue lies: this irreplaceable dependency on external factors other than yourself to make yourself feel better. That could be natural; it could be something which you have had for a very long time, but don’t have anymore. The feeling of not having something just for yourself that brings you joy can leave you feeling deserted.
But the point I am trying to draw out here is about maturity, and constancy of behavior, something that I see a lot in our parents’ generation. They have unsatisfying, unfulfilling days as well, but their daily work, thoughts, and behavior don’t change as much according to the dull times. They don’t slack off. So how are they able to do it?
I could put it down to two reasons. Firstly, their focus is shifted from their mental dissatisfaction to large responsibilities like work, family, goals, etc. At that age, your responsibilities would be so large that you naturally become fine-tuned in such a way - to prioritize those duties irrespective of the changing times. But secondly and more importantly, they build themselves and live life more excitingly which turns out to be a method to compensate for the dull times. That’s right! They find their own joy.
It isn’t simple, it just isn’t. First, discover what changes you can bring into your life, and then consider whether they would bring you joy. Anything you do should meet three criteria: it must be a sensible thing to do, bring you joy, and have a positive impact on you. That is what we all must aspire to bring naturally into our lives, changes that satisfy these 3 traits at all times.
There is a reason why it's always better to be self-aware. An easy way out of anything would be to run away from all this dissatisfaction, crumble the sensation inside and ignore the truth that all this would strike you over and over again. But no. We have the power of dealing with issues, we have the power to bring about change in our own lives and it would be futile not to use it. Just never be careless about it, ever.
It’s time for bringing about positive change in our own lives. I feel it now more than ever.