We have had so many challenges over the past three years – the pandemic, political upheaval, cultural upheaval, economic upheaval and the list goes on. How do we keep our bearings? How do we continue on with a sense of stability?
I have seen and heard about many people who have become broken from all this turmoil. With all the mental, emotional and physical challenges, they lose the ability to cope. The parts of our life that bring stability are like legs on a table; the table will not be able to stay balanced with the loss of one leg and with the loss of more than that the table will collapse.
I feel like I have been on a treadmill that not only doesn’t stop but keeps speeding up. I decided that it is time for me to not completely step off the treadmill, but slow it down to focus on pursuing what I call a life well lived.
“We have got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen”
— D.H. Lawrence
What are the simple pleasures in my life right now? Having the time to finish a book, watch a movie I want to see, bake and cook. To go on a hike and enjoy my fitness and health which so many others are denied. To support my friends and their goals. To keep pushing for change, to work on the nonprofits I care about, to keep trying to help others, but to also understand that there need to be limits to this pushing in order to help myself and keep all the legs on my table intact. And I am not the only one searching for the meaning of meaning and worth these days.
To me, this is my life well lived right now. To simplify, to appreciate, to enjoy, to stop and think and savor. It looks like others are reaching the same conclusion.
Your life well lived is likely something different. My New Year’s wish for you is to find out what is your life well lived and begin, in whatever ways you can, to live that life..
12/22/22