Jim Collins has a new book out, and just the title is pretty deep and sent me off with all kinds of self-reflecting questions. The title is “What to Make of a Life.” It poses a question much like one we have heard so many, many times, but this comes after ten years of research and during his much-past-midlife phase. He is 65, to be exact, and he and I both agree that we are just getting warmed up. So, what in the world do we make of a life?
That question has not been one-and-done for me, and I suspect it has not been for most of us either. I remember being young and feeling so jealous of all my friends graduating who seemed to have it together and knew what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives!!! Really? The rest of your life??? You already know? I was somewhat baffled. The question of what to do with a life has looked quite different depending on the season of my life.
Somehow, when I was young, I thought there was just one main question: What will I do for an occupation? I guess I am glad I did not know back then that was the least of it. As I have grown in mind, body, and spirit, there have been many mountains to climb, some to go around, and some to walk away from altogether. I have found that many times there are more questions than answers. I am working on asking myself the right ones, the ones most suitable for me and for mine.
The more I know, the more I know I don’t know. I want to know. I want to learn and grow. A closed mind is a dangerous thing, and I surely don’t want that. I remember Hugh always saying, “You can’t teach someone something they think they already know.” If your brain is full, there is no room for new thoughts and knowledge.
It is funny with teenagers. We say they know it all and that we can’t tell them anything, which is evidenced by all the eye-rolling. But truth be told, we adults can be that way too. We like to say things like, “We have always done it that way,” or, “That is just the way it is,” or, “That is just the way I am.” It always worked before, yadda, yadda, yadda. We may not roll our eyes, but sometimes we slam our minds shut to new ways of thinking.
It seems the world is changing at rapid speed, and I can either get on the train or be left at the station. I am almost embarrassed to use that expression. Perhaps I should have found a new way to say it!!!
So, the whole point of this is: I really am asking myself what to do with my life. I have said it before, just like Zig Ziglar, I am not retiring. I am refiring. Sometimes it would be easier to just stay at the station, read an old magazine, and remain right there. But that does not seem like the best use of my life, and I imagine it is not the best use of yours either.
If you are stuck in something and have lots of questions about where you are and what you are doing with this one precious life, maybe pick up this book or one of the many others that will get you thinking. Keep your mind wide open. Study, grow, and read. For a bonus, write a full page of gratitudes daily, and soon you may see right before you that next mountain to climb.
Grateful,
Karen
