Worth the effort!
I’ve felt like a robot for so long now … work, work, work and do, do, do. Do whatever it takes to make a living at all costs. When we started a family, it simply didn’t matter whether I liked my job. I had to keep doing it so that we could eat, have a place to live, and so we could make ends meet. I just never really learned to slow down.
My father was my role model. He sometimes worked extra jobs so that he could provide for our family and so he could save for my brothers and me to go to college. He’d wake up at the crack of dawn, drive 45 minutes to swim laps at the YMCA, work his day job, then come home and help care for my special needs sister. He also helped with the dishes, played games with us and then dropped into bed early only to wake up and do it all over again. I really can’t remember a time when he sat still. He was always hustling … a true mover and a shaker.
Throughout my adult life, without really realizing it, I have modeled my own work ethic after my dad. I, too, find it difficult to sit still. Even on my days off, I’m always asking questions like: “Who needs something?” and “What still needs to get done before I can relax?” There’s always been this belief that I am not allowed to relax or do anything I enjoy until all the work is done.
But here’s the truth: that model just isn’t working for me anymore. I can’t go, go, go without rest anymore. My body just won’t allow it. And I’m fighting against a culture and a mindset that touts, and even rewards us, for constantly pushing ourselves to do more. So how about this idea of “the magic of being alive” that S.C. Laurie writes about? Is it true I’m “not just here to perform duties and complete tasks?” Am I “also here to feel happy, and content, and inspired and well within [my]self?”
As I read S.C. Lourie’s words, I feel a peace descending upon me. Maybe I am “worth the effort” of finding something that “brings about a genuine smile from [my] heart.” Maybe you are too. Have you been struggling under the weight of doing, and pleasing others, and constantly go, go, going? Well then, I invite you to take a breath, to take a moment and consider that maybe there is more to life than constant hustle. Go outside, explore nature, do a crossword (or whatever it is that helps you decompress). We “are worth the effort!”