Last updated on March 21st, 2021 at 01:36 am
Do you ever wake up feeling like you’re living someone else’s life? Like you’re just going through the motions day by day and you’re not really connecting with everything going on around you? That’s definitely me some mornings—the ones where I wake up a little unsure of what the point of the day will be. Or the times where I wonder how I wound up with things in my schedule that I don’t really feel like doing.
We’re quick to label it depression or to tell people that they should suck it up and that “it’s just how life is”—but something doesn’t ring true there. While it’s true that we’ve become adept at making mountainous problems out of molehills, it doesn’t automatically discount our feelings of unease toward our lives. Taking examples from my life, when people meet me for the first time and discover that I’m a public servant, they’re floored. The idea of a creative, energetic youth and working in an environment that’s not typically seen to be so usually never matches up in their minds.
Though I tend to laugh it off and simply go with the flow, maybe there’re elements of truth there. Perhaps there’s something to be said about our performance, thinking and behaviour when we’re not in situations that complement who we are. It’s not only limited to our work lives—it can be applied to just about any part of your life!
For example, I’m getting more and more convinced that no matter how much sleep you get, if you’re being tasked with things that you have absolutely no interest in, you’re not going to be able to focus. We fidget, we doodle, we daydreams, we nap—we do anything we can to escape thinking about or doing these arduous tasks.Today was my first day off from having anything planned in the schedule or promised to get done for anyone, but does it ever really end? There’s always something to do. It won’t always be interesting, but it’ll be there. Books to read, shows to watch, chores to do—not all glamorous nor exciting, but always there, waiting for you to get them out of the way.It’s very much a First-World Problem, but don’t you ever get tired of being you? I’m not saying it’d be better to be someone else, but sometimes being us is a very tiring exercise. The things that take up our time, the things that we know we have to do—all of it can take a toll on us.Sometimes, we just need to reinvent ourselves.
It’s no sin to periodically do so—I know that I’m no stranger to getting in funks every now and then, feeling that life’s gotten too doldrum. Too routine. Too boring. Those are the cornerstones of getting yourself to a point where you decide that nothing’s worth caring about and fill your head with all sorts of junk that keeps you from living the great life that you should be living.
I’ve decided that it’s about time to take a good look at becoming a whole new Casey Palmer.
It’s hard to get things done when you’re clouded by emotion. It can ruin your appetite, destroy your focus and spill over into various other areas of your life! While emotion is something often outside of our control, it is important to look at things rationally before making choices that you might not be able to take back.
I’m a big fan of logic. Rationality. Using our wits and brains to solve problems rather than our ids to simply do the first things that come to mind. With this in mind, sometimes we want to change. Sometimes there’re parts of us that we just don’t like… but how well do we really know ourselves?
It’s important to know who you are and what you’re all about. These govern your choices, your thoughts, your direction—if you can develop a keen understanding of what you’re likely to do before you do it, you’re more likely to make better decisions and be proactive rather than reactive.
It’s been a good year so far. As the year’s gone on, the 2K11 24/7 blog posts have matured along with it, ranging from simple posts with a key task to do each day to more essay-like investigations of why we do the things we do and what we can do to change the root causes behind our actions.
What we’ve been cultivating this year is self-awareness.
You can’t change a thing about yourself if you don’t truly understand what’s going on in that head of yours. You might have a sincere desire to change, but you’ll end up flat on your back time and time again if you don’t know what you’re up against.
Sadly enough, we’ve let ourselves believe that we need outside forces to help us better understand ourselves. Self-help books. Psychiatrists. Gurus. Motivational speakers. I’ve done multiple personality tests from online quizzes, to True Colours, to Myers-Briggs and more, but it really only comes down to looking deep within and determining what it is you want out of life and how you plan to get it.
So with about 2 ½ months left to us in 2011, do yourselves a favour—live life the way you want to live it. It’s too short to live someone else’s dreams.
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