"So much of my purpose and value stems from productivity." This is something I have struggled with my entire life as well and while it's been really nice to sit back and enjoy the view, doing so was unexpectedly hard. My brain struggles with WANTING to be online, DOING something. It gave me so much anxiety. It was a practice at resting that I had to force myself to do until I actually enjoyed it.
Slowing down was the best thing I did. We are roughly the same age, and this is about the time when these things happen to us...midlife. I do think that external factors you mentioned have also pushed many of us into this life-questioning stage, perhaps earlier than expected and seems to be the sentiment among my friends too, regardless of age. But this time of life is the time when we reach the top of the mountain and need to decide where / what to climb next, knowing that the next climb will be different—we will know the importance of stopping to smell the flowers or dipping our toes in chill streams or identifying a mushroom along the way.
Beautiful reflection, thank you for sharing. We also took a family pilgrimage to Korea and Japan earlier this year; a first for our son that gifted him an opportunity to meet his great grandmother for the first time; a month before she passed away gracefully. The entire trip was filled with heavy and light, as we reconnected with friends we hadn’t seen in a decade, and family we hadn’t seen in two decades.
At 41, I too am just now learning to stop holding my breath, and appreciate the beautiful view from mid-life. Here’s to the journey.
Thank you for this piece, I didn’t realise how much I needed to hear (or rather read) this sort of work until now. A breath of fresh air, thank you again
Wow, that was an incredible piece and just what I needed to read! Definitely sharing ;)
Thanks for reading!
"So much of my purpose and value stems from productivity." This is something I have struggled with my entire life as well and while it's been really nice to sit back and enjoy the view, doing so was unexpectedly hard. My brain struggles with WANTING to be online, DOING something. It gave me so much anxiety. It was a practice at resting that I had to force myself to do until I actually enjoyed it.
Slowing down was the best thing I did. We are roughly the same age, and this is about the time when these things happen to us...midlife. I do think that external factors you mentioned have also pushed many of us into this life-questioning stage, perhaps earlier than expected and seems to be the sentiment among my friends too, regardless of age. But this time of life is the time when we reach the top of the mountain and need to decide where / what to climb next, knowing that the next climb will be different—we will know the importance of stopping to smell the flowers or dipping our toes in chill streams or identifying a mushroom along the way.
If not now, then when? It has to be now for us.
Beautiful reflection, thank you for sharing. We also took a family pilgrimage to Korea and Japan earlier this year; a first for our son that gifted him an opportunity to meet his great grandmother for the first time; a month before she passed away gracefully. The entire trip was filled with heavy and light, as we reconnected with friends we hadn’t seen in a decade, and family we hadn’t seen in two decades.
At 41, I too am just now learning to stop holding my breath, and appreciate the beautiful view from mid-life. Here’s to the journey.
It must be in the atmosphere. Very timely Bobby.
Thank you for this piece, I didn’t realise how much I needed to hear (or rather read) this sort of work until now. A breath of fresh air, thank you again
Thank you !!!!
😂 my wife was just talking about this with her friends