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ENJOY THE RIDE

Written by: Jonathan Payne

Article Overview: The best lived lives are those which allow both the need for routing and predictability, and the desire for wildness and spontaneity, to play themselves out.

ENJOY THE RIDE

I received an SMS recently which read:

“Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out shouting “wow, what a ride!”

I like it. It reminds me of a person I used to work with years ago who kept changing jobs. Probably not the most sensible thing to do, but he had an interesting underlying philosophy. He reckoned that most people begin to feel bored with the routine of the job they have. After a while, in search of excitement, they change job. And the first thing they do to this wonderful, exciting new job is to tame it and establish a routine.

Two contradictory forces seem to be a work within us. The one craves routine, order and predictability. This is the desire for a comfort zone, a place where we know we will be safe. But deep inside there simmers a desire for the wild, the unpredictable and the dangerous. The one side of us longs for a life where every question has an answer and everything is in its place. And the other side of us knows, and enjoys the fact, that life is more like a badly packed suitcase, only just managing to stay shut with odd bits and pieces dangling out the side.

These play themselves out, and I believe that the best lived lives are the ones which allow both sides out to play. At time these forces are in conflict and cause strange emotions and irrational behaviour. It’s a bit like going to a horror movie where you pay to be scared out of your wits and then spend the entire movie on tenterhooks trying to avoid the frights. Part of us wants the thrill of being terrified, the other part longs for security.

Obviously we need to have the calm, rational, logical side of life. But if we want to experience everything life has to offer we need to walk a bit on the wild-side. We need to acknowledge that life is not neat, orderly and calm- that it is just as likely to be irrational as it is to be rational. Life cannot always be reduced to seven rules of success, or five steps to happiness or twenty principles of wealth. There are always the bits that don’t fit the pattern, the moments which leave the bodywork a bit dented, the times when the hair is ruffled and the knees are scraped. Many people have become bored to the point of falling asleep when driving on smooth, predictable motorways. I haven’t yet met anyone who came off a roller coaster ride saying “How boring.” Life has those gut wrenching drops as well as the smooth freeways.

While we do need the calm waters, wouldn’t it be dreadful to arrive at the grave saying, “That was one boring life”?

The poet Mary Oliver asks:

“What are you going to do with this one wild and precious life?”

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Article Tags: bits and pieces, changing jobs, comfort zone, conflict, contradictory forces, desire, excitement, five steps, horror movie, irrational behaviour, journey, new job, odd bits, predictability, rational life, strange emotions, suitcase, tenterhooks, wild side, wits



Related Forum Posts
Re: Balancing Your Man & Business - This is SOOOO real. . Keeping first things first has kept the balance. First God, then everything else. When I start the day with prayer and meditation, I prioritize better. There are certain things I must do each day in business but I remember to schedule quality time with my mate AND I'm attentive too. I noticed when I don't put God first, I struggle to keep a balance and wonder how we'll add kids to the paradigm. When I do it right EVERYTHING falls into place. Besides that, we BOTH really ENJOY business. We're both self-employed. I like this thread. This has been BIG discussion with us of late. We've both gotten MUCH better. It's no small thing either.


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