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“Life is easy,” said no one ever.

Life is tedious. Life is chaotic. Life is challenging. Life is painful. Life is unfair. Life is, well, life. It pushes us when we’re already down. It breaks our hearts when we finally take that leap. It crushes our dreams like chinaware released from the height of a ten-story building.

It’s no wonder why, some days, we ponder the reason behind our very existence. What is the point of remaining stuck in the same old rhythms day after day?

If a third of our life is spent sleeping and another third is spent working, this means we have just one precious third of the pie remaining to do as we please. And unless we have oodles of cash lying around or acquired some sort of celebrity status, then we likely have to spend that remaining time engaging in a gamut of disenchanting activities, such as (but not limited to): stocking our fridge, trimming our hedges, prepping meals, bathing our perpetually filthy kids, organizing the Tupperware drawer, detailing our bathroom’s porcelain, returning our mother’s phone call from last month, attending obligatory dinner parties, and so on. The list is endless. Only once we complete our list of designated duties can we reward ourselves with several hours of uninterrupted mindlessness in the form of Netflix or Instagram reels. It’s tragic but true.

We are simply trying to pass the time. This is the tedium of everyday life. This is when limbs start falling asleep or our brains start nodding off. We become unstimulated and uninspired. And we let go of the grand ideas we once held close of love, adventure, and miracles. I too have become a victim of this very overlooked form of self-sabotage. It makes perfect sense why we do this, for it is in our very nature to find the easiest route and then pursue it. Plus, when we’re so unbelievably exhausted from the things that rid us of our creativity, who could blame us for wanting to just pass our days in peace?

But that is not the point. The point is not to devour someone else’s art all day without ever attempting to make our own. The point is not to run on autopilot, in some robotic regimen that has us falling asleep at the wheel. The point is to do something extraordinary. Something that maybe scares the living daylights out of us. Something that will allow us to discover our own mission and then fight for it every chance we get. This could be anything, and I truly mean anything.

My father loves working with his hands, and despite clicking away on keyboards all day for his job, he always finds home improvement projects to help reignite the fire of these passions that dwell beneath the surface. Recently, not long after his sixtieth birthday, he announced he was starting a small business – Alt Haus  (German for old house), where he would design and construct everything from kitchens and bathrooms to mini libraries and wine cellars. Don’t get me wrong, my father loves the work he does behind his monitor, but he was able to recognize, that after over thirty years of these same motions, he needed to switch it up. He realized that there was more to him than his routine.

Each of us has this same potential. But we sometimes use life as an excuse not to exert any more energy than we need to. I get it. Life is a merry-go-round. It can make you dizzy after a while. But if the ride you’re on is starting to feel like a ride you didn’t choose, or a ride you no longer choose, then get the hell off. Do something else even if all you’re doing is getting outside for some fresh air or listening to an uplifting podcast. It will feel good, I promise. Your inner child will thank you. And you know what? Your future self will too.

We weren’t meant to be cooped up indoors all day. We weren’t meant to work out of a box. And we especially weren’t meant to daydream the hours away. Life is damn hard, but you know what else it is? It’s finite. There are no do-overs. No second chances.

Remember that you were put on this earth for a reason. You absolutely do serve a purpose, and you absolutely do matter. If it’s any consolation, we all suffer from imposter syndrome. We all question whether or not we have what it takes to live a courageous life. But trust me when I say, you absolutely do have what it takes. Just don’t ever give up on the person you were meant to become.  

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Photo by Holly Mandarich on Unsplash

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