The world is really big. I know that people say it is getting smaller, what with technology and all that, but it is really really big. So how do you navigate it? A big world means lots of options. Lots of options for work, for fun, for relationships, for mistakes, for joy, for pain – lots of options.
I often find myself musing in my apartment alone, or even sometimes in a crowded room, about how to know if the options I am choosing are the right ones. Be a good person, work hard, be successful, give back, don’t regret – these are all values I hear constantly. And don’t get me wrong, I think they are good values. But what if we have the definitions wrong? What if the idea of “be successful” or “work hard” or any of the others are incorrect. What if I am choosing options based on the wrong premise?
I often use the phrase, “give me the box so I know where I need to be.” This is something I use mainly at work and it helps to give me some boundaries to the different tasks I complete. But if I am being honest, I use it in my personal life as well. I often determine where the box is, or others determine it for me, and then I operate within that box. Sometimes the lines of the box are expectations, sometimes a line is fear and sometimes a line is simply a societal norm. But what if the box (aka my schema) is wrong, what if I drew the lines in the wrong place and I’m operating within a box, choosing all my options based upon the confines of that box, and really I am meant for something different?
The world is a big place. It scares me to realize that the box I have drawn for myself is so small and all the options I choose fall within that box. This post has nothing to do with creativity and thinking outside the box – it has to do with perspective and evaluating the way a single, small life is being lived out in a big world.
optimism is worth it. 