Life is a journey, not a destination. So sayeth an Aerosmith song! 😂 Seriously though, whether we like it or not (and as the title of this blog indicates) we are all In The Midst Of A Journey called life. And there is no journey where you are constantly moving. In every journey there will be times when you just stop. You stop to rest. You stop to fulfill biological needs. You stop to get your bearings and decide if you are still headed to where you want to go. To name a few reasons. Work and careers are a major part of life for most of us. They are an integral part of the journey. So why not call a halt to your career every so often?

The last question I’m sure would elicit a variety of answers from people depending on what their life situation is. It’s a question that I have not pondered in many years but recently (over the past 12 months) I’ve been thinking about it more and more. In my 20s I used to think about career breaks a lot! I actually had about five different careers in my 20s as I was still finding myself and hadn’t discovered any particular thing that motivated me strongly. I also had few responsiblities. I either lived at home with my parents (in my early 20s) and then later (my mid to late 20s) I either had roommates in a small apartment or lived alone in a very small apartment. Children and family were not yet on my radar so my cost of living and responsiblities were minimal. So I got into this cycle of saving up money when I was tired of a job, then quitting the job, then taking it easy for a while (weeks to months) and finally seeking out a new opportunity. When I was 29 all of that changed.

Outside the comfort zone is where you grow as a person. It’s something that I’ve learned time and time again over the years. Some people embrace this concept more than others. In fact, most people do not embrace the concept. Most people embrace the idea that the “warm and cozy” place is the best place for them. So be it. The real question is this. How do YOU feel about that?

If you’re longing for something different or something more in life then you NEED to exit your comfort zone. You need to be exposed to new people, new surroundings and new ideas. Not necessarily forever, but for periods of time so that you can start to absorb different perspectives and feel free to think in a different way than you do usually. The paradox of the comfort zone in terms of people is that the people in your comfort zone likely care about you but they also may be tired of hearing about your ideas, hopes and dreams. And so their lack of enthusiasm that manifests in response to your plans often ends up leaving you feeling frustrated.

Two skills that I have found invaluable as I’ve matured and sought to achieve different goals in life are patience and discipline. Utilizing these two skills in concert with each other can yield amazing results. Yet they are often ignored as important traits, particularly in the context of traditional education. Patience and discipline end up being things that most people pick up via alternative forms of education or due to necessity. Real practice is critical to being able to utilize patience and discipline in a way that benefits your life. These are not things that you can merely talk or think about in order for them to have a positive impact on your life.

Life changes are often challenging and scary but also very necessary. If you’re a person like myself then stagnation in most areas of your life is not something you cherish. I often find myself thinking about what new things I can get into, what habits I can develop and what places I can go to help make my life a more rewarding one. Changing and growing in a positive way has a price that goes beyond nervousness and uncertaintly about the change. Change requires you to leave certain things behind.

Anyone who’s set a goal to engage in a discipline over the long haul knows how difficult it is to set yourself on a path and stick to that path religiously for a long time. I’m talking years. And so it goes with writing. Writing is important. I don’t care why a person writes or what audience (including themselves) they write for. Just the process of thinking about what to write is therapeutic, in my non-professional opinion. Writing also confers on a person appreciation for how hard an author has worked while reading a work that someone else has written. The result of that perhaps being a person who goes a bit easier when criticizing someone else’s writing. Those are some of the reasons that I enjoy writing, and why I set out to start writing here almost ten years ago. In fact, we’re in the tenth year of in the midst of a journey. But…

Please raise your hand if you have recently found yourself feeling unhappy about something. 🖐

That’s my hand raised above. I’d be shocked if most people, if not everyone, reading this post thought to raise their hand as well. If happiness is the ultimate goal in life I’ve also found it to be quite an elusive thing for almost anyone to achieve for any length of time. It seems as though there is always something that gets between us and happiness. Often we predicate happiness on some grande, life changing experience that we wish would happen. I’m talking about things like meeting the love of our lives, coming into significant financial wealth, taking the trip of a lifetime or finding our dream job. Although all of the things that I mentioned are possible it’s also likely that their occurrence will be infrequent and their effect on your happiness will be temporary. So what about all of that time in between those grande moments? Is it possible to be happy every single day? I say it is possible, but only if we learn to find happiness in the simple things in life.