Life should be a glorious adventure. For too many people it is routine and mundane. Many people just go through the same routine on a daily basis which may include going to work, doing the groceries and other errands, if you have children, shuttling them from school to activities to homework before getting them to bed, surfing the internet or spending hours on social media, watching Netflix and then off to bed to begin the same cycle the next day.
Why do we settle for less than we are capable of? There are many reasons for this including feeling trapped in our regular routine which has been ongoing for years, being overwhelmed by routine daily tasks, being discouraged by people close to us and not having the right guidance and peer group to support us in what we truly want.
The sad thing is that most people do not take the time to discover what they truly want from their life situations for the reasons mentioned above. If you are feeling depressed, anxious, frequently frustrated or irritable with those close to you, you could be suffering from a crisis of meaning. What do I mean by this?
You may be living your life be default and not by intention. What do I mean by following a life of intention? I mean asking what you truly want from this brief, precious gift of life that you have been given. How many people truly stop and take the time to answer this question? Given the dissatisfaction that the majority of the general public reports with their jobs, their careers and overall life situation, it is very few who truly aspire to discover what they really want.
This is what I mean by following the road less travelled. It means asking the difficult questions about why you are anxious, depressed or frustrated. It means discovering what will truly bring meaning and fulfilment to your life. It means to discover why you have been put here on the planet. You see, we are all here for a reason, regardless of whether we know it or not. Yet very few people cultivate the courage to discover why they have been put on the planet at this time.
In order to follow the road less travelled I encourage everyone to start asking and journaling on these questions. The first question you should ask yourself is why you feel the way you feel. It does not matter whether you feel positive emotions such as happiness, joy, fulfilment and peace or negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, frustration or anger.
It is as important to question the positive emotions as it is the negative emotions because the positive emotions may indicate that you are on the right path while the negative emotions may indicate that you are not on the right path. This can only be uncovered by questioning your emotions, no matter what they are.
As a first exercise to getting on the road less travelled and living your life as the adventure it was always meant to be, start by journaling on your emotions and get to the roots of what you fee and why you feel this way. This will be revealing and enlightening and will start to create the space for you to move in the direction which liberates your soul to experience true joy and freedom.
In my next article, I will continue with this theme of how to follow the road less travelled to elevate your life and discover your highest potential.
Nauman Naeem MD