Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Perspective

I need to get some, I think! The past few weeks have been... tough, but I'm not quite sure I can put a finger on why. Stick with me while I try to figure it out?

Yes, I recently lost a friend to cancer, and I am mourning that loss. Cole was an amazing person and he will be missed. He definitely went too soon. But there's more to my unrest than that. I'm fairly certain that EVERY person I know has something fantastic going on in life right now. Marriage, babies, promotions at work, vacations, buying a house...and I, I remain in a state of continual homeostasis. The most exciting thing in my life, of late, is the fact that I was able to drive a whole month on the same tank of gasoline.

Hip.

Hip.

Hooray...

Frankly, it goes to show just how ordinary my life really is.

I think what's bothering me is the fact that my "ordinary" life is bothering me. I should be happy to be in a state of homeostasis. Who wouldn't want to have a life where they are able to "maintain internal stability, owing to the coordinated response of [the collective] parts to any situation or stimulus that would tend to disturb its normal condition or function"? That sounds pretty dang great. I have a home, and a job, and a car, and friends and dinner plans next Monday night. And there are several other things that happen from day to day that may not be overly exciting, but are certainly positive points in my life.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where it's expected that life should always be exciting. There should always be something major on the horizon. And I'm not sure from where this expectation comes? Is it self imposed? Or is it the byproduct of a social norm that is so focused on obtaining more that we are doing ourselves a disservice by making a simple, ordinary life seem less than desirable?  

Personally, I think it might be time to get back to recognizing just how great it is to be ordinary. There doesn't need to be some grand event ever waiting on the horizon for us to be able to enjoy what we are doing here and now.

So- if you catch me complaining that life is ordinary and never really changes, help me gain a little perspective??