Make Yourself Uncomfortable
Yesterday was my birthday. (Thanks to all of you Facebook peeps that posted on my wall.) It seems like people my age (late twenties, early thirties), more and more, use their birthdays not as an excuse to go out and party, but instead to reflect on how far (or not far) they've gone in life up to this point. People seem to be less in favor of enjoying the current moment, and more in favor of waxing philosophical about finding their purpose and following through on it.
My girlfriend is fond of doing this. Each year, on her birthday, she expresses anxiety about not making enough of an impact on the world, or having accomplished enough. We all do it. It's natural. Contentment isn't in our DNA. Instead, we have an innate drive to venture out from our respective caves and kill a Woolly Mammoth for food.
If you're chewing on this sense of dissatisfaction the next time you're presented with a birthday cake full of candles you're supposed to blow out by a bunch of tone deaf family members (or office workers) singing to you, then here's my advice: adopt more risk. It's the only way to break the cycle of birthdays where you feel like you didn't do enough during the year. Do things to make yourself uncomfortable. Do what you've always wanted but were too freaked out about.
Even our ancestors had to face the risk that they might get stepped on while hunting Mammoths; they needed food. And by the same token: you need life experiences. Or maybe something else. Whatever it is, you won't find it by sitting still.
Safe is the new risky.
My girlfriend is fond of doing this. Each year, on her birthday, she expresses anxiety about not making enough of an impact on the world, or having accomplished enough. We all do it. It's natural. Contentment isn't in our DNA. Instead, we have an innate drive to venture out from our respective caves and kill a Woolly Mammoth for food.
If you're chewing on this sense of dissatisfaction the next time you're presented with a birthday cake full of candles you're supposed to blow out by a bunch of tone deaf family members (or office workers) singing to you, then here's my advice: adopt more risk. It's the only way to break the cycle of birthdays where you feel like you didn't do enough during the year. Do things to make yourself uncomfortable. Do what you've always wanted but were too freaked out about.
Even our ancestors had to face the risk that they might get stepped on while hunting Mammoths; they needed food. And by the same token: you need life experiences. Or maybe something else. Whatever it is, you won't find it by sitting still.
Safe is the new risky.