Aren’t you tired?
I don’t mean sleepy or exhausted – I’m talking bone tired weary of them.
All of them.
The ones who told you the definition of success, how to raise your children, what’s in style, what to drive, how to furnish your home, what to feed your pet, what diseases you’re prone to, what your portfolio should look like, how to find your balance, how to know you’ve found the one, how to know your relationship is over, and the list goes on.
Remember your younger years when you wanted to stand out, be different, and dance to the tune of your own choosing? You rebelled against what your parents wanted, rebelled against what society said you should be doing, and paved the road ahead with your own dreams and ideas versus the latest top 10 list of anything.
I’m betting you can barely remember that person, so let me remind you of what happened:
Peer pressure, college counselors, HR orientations, first bosses, fellow mothers on the playground, wedding registries, mother-in-laws, divorce counselors, life coaches, financial planners, general practitioners, priests, psychotherapists, neighbors and well-meaning friends are what happened.
From the moment your well-meaning auntie squeezed your cheeks while squealing what do you want to be when you grow up, you’ve been not so gently directed towards tomorrow and what’s next.
You’ve been groomed to be dissatisfied with the moment at hand – the status quo, and trained to fear what’s here now while instead, obsessing over what’s next.
We’ve all gulped from the well of what about the future and we’re tired. We’ve swallowed our fear of the now, fear of taking a moment to do nothing while simply being, and fear of holding still long enough to savor the moment of what is.
We’re tired. So very tired.
The antidote to this exhaustion isn’t a massage, a nap, or a vacation. It isn’t going to bed early or resisting the call of your handheld devices. It’s literally unplugging from them.
It’s getting up in the morning, eating what your body really wants to eat, putting on what you really want to wear, and refraining from your morning shoulds of news, email, messages and phone calls at least until you get into your car to begin your day.
Unplugging from them means launching your morning in the way you need to ease into the day. Through music, nature and quiet time if that’s what your soul wants. If your inner longing wants to run, well then run, but if your inner knowing says hell no, let me sit here and drink my coffee and listen to the birds, well then listen.
Ask yourself:
Do you really want that promotion? Does your child really need to join that team? Are you paying for the promise of a future with the life you’re living now?
I’m not suggesting you become a sloth of a lazy pig who does nothing to motivate yourself, I’m simply urging you, to be honest with and listen to the beats of your own rhythm.
Are you worried that you’ll stop eating healthy and pig out all day? Well, let yourself. I promise, three days in you’ll feel like such shit you’ll stop, but you’ll be stopping because you’re choosing to, not because they told you to.
And there my dear lies your power. Reclaiming your inner knowing- your inner authority.
If you think following the rules like a good girl or boy will buy you nirvana in this lifetime, please realize all you’ll be buying is an inner rebellion of dissatisfaction. And exhaustion.
So what did you dream of before you encountered them?
What do you really want?
Can you remember the sound of your own drumbeat?
Photo via Masao Hirasawa on Flickr