There is a quiet shift happening, a movement. Something under the surface that started as a whisper, a small cry, and is slowly growing louder with each vibrant epiphany.
The move out from a life chained to corporate slavery is happening.
The once great American dream, full of security, 401K stability and 25 year retirement plan has begun to crumble under the weight of technology and human longing for change and progress. I’m certainly not saying that the tower has fallen and that swift change is a abreast; I am saying that joy seekers and bliss chasers have decided they can change all of the rules, they’ve decided- WE have decided to head back to the basics of life, unchained, raw, and ready to live.
There are many negative opinions around the tech movement, and while I could use less faces in phones bumping into me on the streets or at a table across from me in a restaurant, I appreciate the remote life style.
I appreciate a life with the ability to hold all of the music in the world in the palm of my hand- a playlist for every day. I appreciate spending Christmas morning, across the country from everyone we love, with the ability to see faces full of joy on a screen as we spend precious moments “together” in different rooms in different states.
I used to hand write and mail letters to my friends when we were apart- today I am able to push a button and see their faces in real time- what a world!
The minimalist movement, the support of small businesses movement, the slight movements in cities that bring communities closer together working towards bringing the “little people” big successes against the great corporate giants, are slowly but steadily gaining momentum.
And maybe this is more noticeable from a progressive city with deep roots being on the “right” side of political movements, in supporting the goodness of mother earth, remembering that without her, we are truly nothing; we are a non existent species of a bad bacteria that she will soon learn how to fight off unless we learn to listen and help her thrive….though I suppose that tirade is for another novella.
…don’t worry our dear Mother, I have a great long and supportive book of words for you, appreciating you and your graciousness knowing our time on your surface is limited.
There are professionals all over our country who have discovered, that making 6 figures a year hasn’t promised them happiness, as they thought. Cliche or not, money can not buy your happiness, it can only buy you plane tickets, momentary lapses from reality, and more things than you will ever actually need in this lifetime. It can not, however, grant you the joy and bliss that we as humans are programmed to seek. It may buy your cocktail during happy hour, but it can not buy you incredible laughter with loved ones…to achieve that kind of joy, you must first put your humanity first, and learn to love and learn to be worthy of love.
These professionals with their big salaries and their big retirement plans, are jumping ship into the waters of the unknown setting forth on a journey to find their bliss, to find the source of the light that has dimmed over the course of a life focused on success, rather than a life focused on happiness.
Once I hit my mid twenties, I began to thirst for adventure. I was a wilder teenager with no fear and a lot of darkness in her past, I made my not-so-great decisions, and tried all of the things that you try when you’re young and wild. Through life changing events, and a loss that cut so deep I am still healing ten years later- I subconsciously began to dream of change.
My life had been lived in one area, with the same people, who knew all of the same people. We knew each other’s pasts, and judged each other for who we were, not giving anyone the room to be who they needed to grow into…. it was suffocatingly obvious that my time in one of the only places that I had truly known-that had truly known me, was at is end.
I needed to fly, to run, to heal, to learn about who I was and what I truly needed out of this life.
So, I gave up the corporate finance job, my 9-5 weekend free life, and set out for a new chapter. Suffice to say this decision may have saved my life. I was able to surround myself with like minded souls, a new kind of chosen family who understood what I was searching for…
and while my past was rich and full of love, I was still the same girl, there, that I had always been; put in a box, labeled and tossed on a shelf in the town records- preserved as her forever.
This cycle repeats itself - I hesitate to grow roots even now, I fear the committal one place forever and still thirst for travel, change, and newness. I join in the quiet movement to finding the joy- shedding the comfort zoned life in search of doing something that ignites the flame in my soul that will blind anyone close enough to question it.
Don’t chain yourself to the life you think you should live, because it puts zeros in your bank account. Don't anchor yourself to one spot because it is the place you have only ever known- there is a huge beautiful world out there that needs us to remember the basics. It needs us to remember that we don't need all the things and stuff, that we need only the things to survive- shelter, food, clothing, and love.
Don’t be consumed by the commercials forcing you into thinking you need- be consumed by your heart crying out to send and receive love- then send all of the love you wish to receive, and it will be so.
No comments:
Post a Comment