I will admit, I have spent a very long time trying to find my groove in life. I have tried a lot of things and have learned a lot about what does not work. I used to think that it was just me. That finding my groove in life was something that must be searched for, striven to achieve, a trek to the hermit on the mountain top for enlightenment. In short an epiphany.
For some it may be like that, but for me it seems to have been a lot of trying to cram a square peg (me) into a round hole (what I do/who I am).
I have sought the counsel of good friends who I am sure got quite frustrated with my constant lamentations on my state (read, first world problems). I sought spiritual insight from every form of the religious, and learned much in my quest. I have sought guidance from teachers, preachers, directors, coaches and just about every other learned source. I have read copiously on the subject, and again learned much.
Yet, with all I have learned I have not “felt” like I found my groove. Unless searching can be a groove.
There is an old saying, “water seeks its level”. In practical sense the concept is both sound and easy to understand; water being, well water, will flow over and around until it finds its place, its level. Life is much the same as we, as people in life, seek our level. As such we tend to spend our time doing much seeking of that level. That place where we are happy with what we do, content with who we are and comfortable with our place in life.
The last can be a problematic concept as comfort can breed stagnation. Being comfortable with our place in life, once we understand we have reached it, does not mean stagnation. It means that we are comfortable with where we are and happy to strive to be the best in that state.
Note that comfortable does not mean that we stop our striving to be better.
No, we have reached a point where we are more about becoming the best and less about striving for that next step. We are striving for more and more significance where we are.
We have found our groove. And in the finding it and feeling the road level out in front of us we inherently understand that it is time to throttle up and go for the top gear. The day is clear, the wind is at our back, the road is smooth and straight, the speed limit signs have all fallen away and we can lay over the tank and see how fast this baby can go (I get chills just thinking of it).
This is not to say that there are not curves ahead that must be encountered, hills to be pulled, valleys to struggle through, but for now .. right now .. we feel .. complete.
I know this may be momentary, this clarity. I am okay with that, you should be okay with that. It is during these brief periods of clarity that we must make the most of understanding life. It is far too easy to lose our grasp on moments of clarity and slip once again out of our groove and feel lost yet again.
Taking the moment to solidify, and for me that means writing it down, who and what we are about. I think these are the times when God gives us glimpses of our perfect selves. Of who He designed us to be. As such we must get the rope rosined up and lashed down tight, get our butt’s planted for when someone or something pulls the gate and we have to ride whatever life has strapped us to and hang on for dear life!
It is during these periods, no matter how brief they may be, that we should settle more into our lives and get a firm grasp on our heading. Life is too tenuous and fleeting to miss these opportunities.
It has taken me a long time; 53 years to be exact to understand this. I fear I have missed these precious times in the past. Not being sharp enough to see them for what they are.
For the first time in a long time, I am in love with my life and when you get there it can be hard to really accept it for what it is. I find it is hard to accept after so much searching. To come home at the end of a day and feel …. sit down and just let the feeling of fulfillment wash over me.