I’m bored.
Seriously, I’m bored. For the past 2 years or so I feel like life has hit a “rut.” But even the word “rut” doesn’t quite seem appropriate. Maybe humdrum, or monotonous. Life just seems to be more of the same for who knows how long. It’s not that I’m unhappy with life...I have a beautiful wife, a fun and beautiful daughter, and a job that I enjoy and love. I’m just bored.
I had a revelation the other day (probably not a revelation for most, but I digress). It was this, great stories don’t happen on accident. The hero doesn’t accidentally save the damsel in distress. The team doesn’t mistakenly go undefeated and win the championship on the last play. And the guy doesn’t get the girl without some thought and action. Great stories don’t happen on accident. I would assume that most of us want to live a great story. As kids we never dreamed of pursuing the American Dream and staying safe at all costs. But most of us live this way. I believe this is why we get so enthralled in TV shows, or movies, or sports. Because deep down we are meant for something greater, we are meant to live a life worth talking about. Yet we are to content with watching other peoples stories so we can ignore the fact that our own story is actually boring us to death.
And bored to death is where I am. One of the main reasons I believe I am bored is I have been living accidentally. What I mean by that is, instead of waking up with purpose and mission I wake up and let life happen to me. I wait for something to distract me or demand my attention and that is how I spend my time until something else draws my attention. And well, way of living leads to a life of meaningless and haphazard direction. Unfortunately I have lived in this type of accidental living for most of my life and all it has led me to is boredom. But why has it reached this point? Why is this my default setting?
Donald Miller wrote in his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, “Fear is a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.” Whatever the fear is, if we allow it to control us we will always live accidental lives. For a few years I have wanted to start this blog but always resisted. I made plenty of excuses, not enough time, what would I write about, et cetera. But if I was honest with myself the decision to resist was based on my fears...fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of what others would think. But this is just one example. I wonder how many times I have compromised something I wanted to do because of fear. I’m tired of being bored and want to do something about it...So I’ve finally decided to reject accidental living.
Enter #IntentionalSteps...
I created this idea for a weekly series of blog posts to help stimulate intentional living in my life. Each week on Monday I will write a post about what my “Intentional Step” is for that week. Then a week later I will blog about my experience during the week. It could be something as simple as “write a ‘thank you’ note to someone different everyday” or “don’t use a ‘screen’ past 6:30pm every night” or “buy something for some one else anonymously everyday.” The purpose is to force myself out of the same routine week in and week out. It is a small step toward rejecting boredom, but I’m excited about the potential. I would love to get your ideas for weekly Intentional Steps I can take. Let me know in the comments section below.
What about you? What have you done to prevent accidental living?