Leaning Into Life

“Life, if well lived, is long enough.”

-Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I’ve always had this picture in my mind of what my life would look like. My life would be marked with great success, a testament to many years of hard work. My life would look seamless, with every detail fitting into a neat little box of accepted standards. My work would be enjoyable and its impact would be far-reaching. But this picture only captured big things. The reality is that I have worked hard, I’ve achieved a measure of success and I have enjoyed the work that I do, and yet, these very things have created a life of obligation, expectation and overwhelm.

We easily find ourselves stuck in a cycle of responsibility and productivity and we become enslaved by the mundane. We fall victim to the trap that tells us that we must choose function over creativity; that we must be worn thin in order to have worth. In turn, we begin to feel like we are somehow lacking. Lacking purpose. Lacking meaning. Lacking fulfillment. And so we look to the future for reassurance. We look to the next big event in our lives. Our next vacation, our next family gathering, our favourite holiday or season. We tell ourselves that we must endure the everyday humdrum today so that tomorrow we live our best life.

But life has so much more to offer to us. Instead of merely moving through the motions and living our lives from one big moment to the next, we can lean into life and discover the beauty that lies in the everyday moments, in the unremarkable events that, for the most part, fill our days.

When we learn to truly live each moment that is gifted to us, a new level of freedom is attained. Freedom to revel in the simple moments. Freedom to pause and to reassess the course that our lives have taken. Freedom to choose to find joy in each insignificant moment and to inspire others to do the same.

When we become attuned to the blessings that surround us, to the abilities that we take for granted and to the opportunities that could lie in wait if we could only look past what we have always pictured our lives should look like, we change our mindset. The mundane things that we first thought had enslaved us evolve to become the very things that we appreciate most.

The next time you feel trapped, stuck or otherwise uninspired, take a walk outside. Feel the breeze gently caress your face. Listen to the silence that only nature can harmonize, and lean fully into the moment.

The next time you feel overwhelmed, insufficient or lost, close your eyes. Feel your chest move gently with each breath that you take. Silence the mind and rest in the knowledge that you are not what you do, but that you are enough.

The next time you feel like your life is passing you by, pause. Look around you and choose to feel alive in the moment, knowing that you will never live this exact moment again.

A life filled with these moments of gratitude, peace and appreciation will equate to a life well lived.