I arrived home an hour ago after driving across the state with my oldest son for his hockey game. Actually, this was a light weekend; usually, we are juggling multiple events in multiple locations throughout the weekend. In two weeks, we have four places we need to be on a single Saturday night. Last weekend, we had to be in three places in three parts of Illinois on Sunday morning; we found a way. My wife and I are good about splitting up and one of us being with each of the boys (there are three, actually), but what is the square root of one marriage? I guess we’ll devise a plan between now and then. Sometimes, I relish the work week so I can relax a little! Weekends can be exhausting in our family.
But I must catch myself before complaining about grueling weekends. It won’t be long before our oldest son graduates from high school and, probably, moves away. These times won’t last forever; I will dearly miss our many, many road trips and conversations and arguments. And not many parents spend as much time in direct contact with their children as we do on these weekend road trips. Who might be influencing our kids if they weren’t with us? I feel guilty for sometimes feeling like I have endured my weekend of chauffeuring my sons for hours at a time.
Happiness is no fool’s gold,
but it may take a struggle through
difficult choices to get there.
How much of your life are you “enduring”? Sure, you have struggles and some of them you legitimately seek to get through sooner than later. But are there other things you endure when you might better be appreciating them for what they are? Is your life out of balance or are you just reacting to circumstances rather than choosing what is really important to you at any given time?
If you are tolerating things in your life, then understand that is a choice. You ALWAYS have choices, although none of them may seem too compelling, but you choose your life daily. The sooner you accept this fact, the sooner you will gain some control over your own life.
Yet if you find yourself, every weekday, longing for the weekend; or slogging through each day dreaming about the vacation you’ll take next month; or wishing it was tomorrow because of what you are enduring today – then you have a problem.
- What brings you alive? Consider working these things into your daily or weekly schedule to rediscover your passions.
- What are you tolerating? Consider the choice you are making and the personal rewards for making a different choice – and the consequences for doing nothing different. Happiness is no fool’s gold, but it may take a struggle through difficult choices to get there.
If you view your life as an endurance test, it probably will be.
If you view life as as series of opportunities and events to be appreciated for what they are, you will know happiness. There is purpose in every moment, if you seek it out.
Intersection of Purpose and Now 