We are taught at a very young age the importance of a good work ethic. Work hard to provide food on the table, a roof over your head, and a sense of purpose to life. I will not deny the importance of hard work. However, when we look back on our lives, even now, we don’t recall the day in day out of working. Those days, more often than not, mundanely blur into one another. What we do remember are the moments tucked in between. The times we lived in the moment and danced like no one was watching.
There was a time when we were children when we lived and loved with our whole heart. Simple things like playing in the mud or splashing in puddles brought us complete joy. So, what happens to our joy as we get older? Stress, bills, work, social media, the news, society, and so on and so on. Life happens and we lose our sense of play. We put things off because there is more work to be done. We are conditioned to believe work is some sort of means to happiness. Sure, money is helpful, and no one can deny that. We cannot, however, spend our lives working without striving for happiness, and joy.
We must always be in the pursuit of happiness. Life is meant to be lived with our whole hearts. I am not sure what happens when our life expires, no one does. What I do know is you have this one life to live now. To live with your whole heart. Brene Brown describes wholehearted living as, “engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, no matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough. It’s going to bed at night thinking, yes I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid but that doesn’t change the truth that I am worthy of love and belonging”.
I have defined my life for a long time by the fact that I work long hard hours. I put so much energy into my work and have not been cultivating other areas of my life as I need to. No wonder I have felt off balance recently. Our level of exhaustion is not a status symbol. I think we need to start placing more value on joy and happiness as a measure. I have been thinking about how I planned on stepping into 2019 and I believe I have found my path. The coming year will be a focus on wholeheartedness. I will be more creative because I find my flow in those moments and lose all track of time. I will find ways in which I enjoy active play. I will not work beyond my capacity because being tired all the time gets in the way.
Finding balance in life can be difficult because we are often concerned about what others may think of us. I am here to say I no longer give a damn what anyone else thinks. At the end of the day this life is mine and I owe it to myself to be happy!
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Kerry is a Catalyst for change as a Certified Life Coach, EMDR therapist and Certified Equine therapist. Kerry specializes in trauma, grief, depression, anxiety, and the art of joy & happiness . She is also an artist, wanderer, author, editor, lover of life and all beings great and small!
