Gimme some of that average life (said no one evr)
/
It’s hard not to expect that life should be a series of fair and compensatory transactions. There’s an entire wall in every bookstore, enough podcasts to cover a coast-to-coast roadtrip and 1000s of social media campaigns to testify: Put in the “work”, your life can’t help but become glittery amazing. It’s all but guaranteed.
The opposite is true, right? People that live destructively suffer the consequences: They lose their important relationships, they go bankrupt, they go to jail and sometimes, they die. I lived destructively for decades and managed to skirt what’s considered the sludge of consequences, yet I felt bankrupt. When I finally dropped those destructive behaviors and started doing the aforementioned “work”, I expected the pendulum to then swing wildly towards the heavens. Maybe you’ve had the same thoughts? It’s what we’re sold. I’m reticent to admit it but yes, I really expected that life would rain down the rewards of putting in the work. But it hasn’t.
I’m not saying that life hasn’t improved. I’ve developed tools that have replaced my self-(harming)medication , I no longer self-report as spiritually and morally bankrupt, I’m alive. And maybe that’s the reward. I wake everyday NOT in jail, NOT hated by my spouse and children, NOT dead. THIS is it. But in the absence of glitter, what I get is an average life.
Doesn’t make for a very compelling podcast, does it? The title of the next NY Times bestseller isn’t going to be, “I Did Years of Work On Myself and All I Have To Show For It Is This Average Life”. You aren’t going to see giant marketing campaigns selling The Average Life™. If we all reported the truth, perhaps no one would get sober or scale or strive.
If this sounds like a rant, it’s not. If you’re asking, what happened to Ms. Optimism? Still present. I’m truly grateful for everyday that I wake up, period. But coming in on 9 years of sobriety and a whole lot of “work”, I’m finally waking up to my personal evolution: The very unsexy, unglittery work of Acceptance.
Next week: The Anti-Manifesting Agenda
I’ve added some new lovelies to my Marketplace, like four pretty silk bags. These bags are made from silk scraps and vintage ties. They are perfect for your tarot cards, crystals or other magical trinkets. Also, another silk duster and a few pairs of silk scrap earrings.
