A majority of us have either struggled or are struggling with a sense of helplessness, especially in their careers. You are either unhappy with where you are, or feel like you’ve done enough of what you’ve been doing and need more meaning in your life and career, sometimes it’s because you’ve realized that you’re ‘chasing after the wind’ since despite salary increments each year, you seem to simply just be covering your expenses and not getting on. All these can cause you to feel over-whelmed, lost, over-taken, under-whelmed, or stuck. And many are not sure where to begin to re-invent or rejuvenate themselves, their careers or their lives.
It’s a difficult space to be in, and unfortunately one that cannot and should not be ignored. I believe the universe gets us to this point for a reason, and we have two options; to re-invent or rejuvenate, or to die. You may know how eagles renew themselves when they reach the age of 40 – thankfully we’re not the only ones that go through mid-life crisis 😊. An eagle, once it attains the age of 40 or thereabout, flies to a mountain top, sits on its nest and begins to knock its beak against a rock, until it plucks it out. The eagle then has to wait for a new beak to grow back, once the beak grows back, it pulls out its talons, once they grow back, it plucks its old feathers, which will be replaced by new feathers. The process is obviously not easy and I can imagine, also painful, however, after it fully recovers, it is able to extend its
life for another 40 years.
I think we can all learn from eagles and accept that we need to renew ourselves every now and then – remove what’s no longer working, learn new skills, and adopt more of what’s working for you. As you can see, it’s not an easy process and might require a change in thought patterns, learning from those you have taught, changing your actions and thoughts. Unfortunately, many of us don’t find it worth the effort. It is however important to know that what got you here won’t get you there.
“What got you here won’t get you there.”
Brian Marshall
A quick look at organizations and companies that have become obsolete – the majority of them would not have believed they would ever go under, since they had great products and thought they were doing good business, but most of them are now just but a mirage, what of human beings?
To keep experiencing the fullness of life, we need to periodically take stock of our lives, glean out the chaff, learn new skills and then re-apply yourself. This in itself has a way of rejuvenating the energy you need to bounce back and continue enjoying life.
A wise man once said “…everything is meaningless.. a person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil”. How about finding satisfaction in your toil so that it is not all meaningless?
