Oh yeah, I’m back. I might be stretching the truth a little bit if I said I was back full throttle (because
that’s just an invitation to the universe to adjust my perspective to a grinding halt, leaving me with another round of learnings to process and get through). I started my blog with the thought that I had something to say to an already overcrowded world of thought…I still do. And today, it’s about life therapy and finding your way back…or maybe even being “present” like you’ve never been before.
Revelations? Turn of events? Great big cathartic moment? Not even close. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite. For once, I stopped looking for meaning in everything and everyone and just STOPPED long enough to see that I will never go full throttle ever again. Because when I put my foot on the brakes and let up off the gas, I finally realized that I’m not racing anyone else, and slowing down doesn’t mean I have to come to a screeching halt…it’s okay to coast sometimes.
“Coasting” has never been a luxury I’ve afforded myself. There are always new deadlines and goals that keep me in forward motion. But the past year taught me something I won’t soon forget. I learned that evaluating and reassessing goals and deadlines is every bit as important as the initial path you set to reach them (more so if you find yourself in a moment in time where those priorities have changed and you need to do some backtracking and pave new paths).
My brake pads are worn, suffering more from grinding halts than that mellow slow down I’ve recently discovered. Going 100 miles a minute, with decision making happening much like a GPS map…indecisive and silent until the last minute. You know, when you have almost passed it and the last few yards are so silent…and just when you’re ready to give up, that automated voice says “Turn right here!” Except by the time you know you need to be in the right lane, you’re in the far left, and you have to squeal your tires and cut a few friendly travelers off to make the turn. And by friendly, I mean the ones that wave as you go by…with their middle finger J
Sure, you can enter your destination address, let the auto pilot GPS do the work…but only you know when that destination needs a redirect or if the landscape and roads have changed, requiring an alternate route.
Pre-planning will only take you so far. And while Siri is good for a lot of things, she’ll tell you when she has no clue. Imagine that! A brilliant app and program, confident enough to admit ignorance when she doesn’t know the answer. Why is it so hard for us to admit ignorance, when the payoff almost always results in better perspective? I think it’s a sort of life therapy…you know, living in your own skin, your own space. And unlike other fly by night quick fixes, it’s a proven therapy that works. Life therapy is about living, learning, failing, and trying again.
This new pace I’m developing has given me the benefit of indulging in life therapy, enjoying life one day at a time, without looking behind to see who’s gaining on me.
Life therapy beats the heck out of shop therapy (a former vice and friend of mine). And the best part is that while you are window shopping, coasting, looking and living…you don’t have to worry about refund policies or credit card balances at the end of the month. And I can guarantee you’ll be way more cautious about impulse buys when the spending equates to time, and we all have a pre-determined amount to spare. #lifetherapy
For more on living, see http://oldschooljournaling.blogspot.com/2016/05/are-you-still-living-at-home-maybe-you.html
For more on shop therapy and different ways to think about stuff, see http://oldschooljournaling.blogspot.com/2015/01/shopper-reform-in-new-year.html and http://oldschooljournaling.blogspot.com/2015/12/my-own-legacytimeless-and-fresh.html
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