Let It Be: A Level Set

The greatest lesson that I’m learning right now is to have patience.

Photo by Faye Cornish on Unsplash

The greatest lesson that I’m learning right now is to have patience.

What am I doing — or trying to do — that can actually wait?

And at what cost?

It’s so easy to idealise ‘doing’, because from the outside it looks good.

It makes you seem accomplished.

It makes you seem like you know what you’re doing.

And hey, other people might even praise you for it.

But we don’t talk enough about the hidden (or not so hidden) toll this takes on us.

We don’t talk enough about how all of this ‘doing’ affects our ability to prioritise ourselves and our loved ones. There are always trade-offs, and ‘doing’ is no exception: when we are ‘doing’, we are not really present.

It’s not a personal flaw or show of weakness on our side/s, just a reality.

When we are 'doing’, we by definition can’t just ‘be’.

We’re human. We have limited capacity.

It is what it is.

‘Being’ is about observing and connecting with oneself in the moment, whilst ‘doing’ is future-oriented.

But what we don’t account for enough, at least in my opinion, is that if we do too much, we have no future. Because when we get there, to this mythical future state, instead of sitting back and appreciating it — we just keep running.

Or worse, maybe we can’t run anymore. Maybe we’ve reached our limit. But either way, I doubt that those who are burned out regard having got to that point as being an achievement.

I’m not against ‘doing’. I’m just pro-‘being’.

‘Doing’ is about taking action.

‘Being’ is about feeling.

Both are needed.

Yet I would argue that, in the wake of the world in which we live, the circumstances we have found ourselves in, and the pressures past, present and future that are and have been heaped upon us — now more than ever, perhaps it’s time for a rethink.

What would it look like to actively prioritise ‘being’ over ‘doing’?

What would it add to your life, and what would it take away?

What would you miss?

And what scares you about this?

Why do you ‘do’ the things you do?

Why do you prioritise the things you prioritise?

In short, what drives you to move forward?

And what does that even mean anymore?

This life, this journey, this madcap experience on a planet we call “Earth” is and has always been deeply personal.

We are different and the same, our stories intricate, interconnected and interwoven yet still intrinsically individual.

You have as much right to your view, your way of being and your reality as I do mine.

Yet if you can, and as and when you can amidst everything else that’s going on for you, I urge you to lean into this: the sheer power of will.

It will not feed you and your family. It will not keep you safe and warm at night. It is not the answer. But it will keep you alive when everything else feels dark.

And if you take nothing else from this article, the parting note I’d like to leave you with is simply to be gentle with yourself.

You are enough, as you are. In and for all you are.

It’s always darkest before the dawn.

Hold on.

#inthetrencheswithyou