My generation seems to live in a constant state of reaction. Every day the world demands more of us. New technological discoveries are supposed to make our lives easier, but the corporate world has caught on. We can now perform complicated tasks in less time, but since we are being paid for our time and not our tasks, the only thing that makes sense is to pile on more tasks. We are bombarded by shortened deadlines and an ever growing list of requirements. And that's just the parts of our lives that are devoted to our jobs. Our children have daily homework in kindergarten. And if we don't spend all of our weekday family free time to teaching them at home, they fall behind in school. We don't have much time to do anything but react. Intentionality takes planning, and more importantly, time.
I have never been very intentional about my life. I haven't had time to. I feel like I've fallen backwards into every job I've ever gotten. I never gave much thought to it. At sixteen I knew I needed a job I didn't stop to think what kind of job I wanted. At the time I had a connection who could get me a job at Subway, so that's where I worked. I fell into college major in a similar way. I took some classes here and there toying with the idea of certain careers, but by the time junior year rolled around, I had to get serious. I looked at the classes I had already taken and chose the major I could finish the most easily. Accounting it would be. Once I graduated, I didn't give much thought to which places I would want to work or even the type of Accounting I might want to do, I just applied to everything I could and accepted the first one that offered. I was lucky to fall into the one that I did. I've been with the company for nine years now and they've been good to me. The point is that I never chose my path intentionally. I sat back and let life happen to me.
We have gotten very good at diagnosing our situations. We realize that we are overwhelmed and are just spinning our wheels trying to survive, but we don't take the next step. We don't even know there is a next step. Maybe when you just read that you thought, "There's a next step?" The answer is yes. We have inherited a lot; we all come with our very own nine piece matching set of baggage. And that's where the thought ends for a lot of us. We dwell on it, and can never move past it.
So to everyone (including me) who is stuck at that point, I ask a simple question: What are you going to do about it?
We can only spend so much time dwelling on the fact that life's not fair. It isn't fair. So what? It's not fair for anyone. (So really, if you think in circles about it. It is fair in that it isn't fair to anyone.)
Stop letting life happen to you. Stop focusing on yourself and your shortcomings and all that is happening around you that you can't control.
Stop living passively.
Passive voice is frowned upon in writing and it should be frowned upon in your life too. Be active. Be intentional. Choose where you want your life to go--because you have that choice every day. Then make a plan to get there. Follow your plan intentionally.
I can have a balanced life if I work for it intentionally. For instance I intentionally started this blog. It will be the first of many decisions I will make that will lead to a more balanced life. Step one: make time for writing. Check!
What are you going to do on purpose?
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