๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐!!! ๐
๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ…๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฌ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ. โค๏ธ
Last Sunday we had a blizzard in Chicago. As the inches piled up and the storm raged on, I decided to bundle myself up, step outside, and shovel the driveway. ๐จ๏ธ
But in doing so I could hear that little voice in my head which was saying:
๐ฃ โ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐!โ ๐ฃ
To be fair, this voice had a point! Why? Because the townhouse association I live under already provides snow plowers to do everyoneโs driveways! ๐
In other words, I had no reason to step outside my warm, cozy home and out into the freezing cold to perform a job which was already going to be done for me! ๐คฃ
And yet…I did have a reason! ๐ฒ
Have you ever done something you felt really proud of, yet in the eyes of others it could easily be seen as โ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐โ?
๐ You run a marathon…yet you NEVER need to run 26 miles in your life!
๐ You play a sport…yet you NEVER need to place yourself in harm’s way for bodily injuries!
๐ You learn a new skill…yet you NEVER need to learn one because you can always hire someone with the same skill!
Are we just masochists?! Do we just enjoy experiencing discomfort for the sake of it?! ๐
Not quite! ๐
I doubt most people would say they do it primarily for the pain. I know I donโt! ๐โโ๏ธ
๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ญ! ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ญ!
When I stepped outside last Sunday, I knew what I was getting myself into!
๐ฅถ I KNEW the snow would blanket my face!
๐ฅถ I KNEW the cold air would leak under my gloves!
๐ฅถ I KNEW I would be sweating from shoveling!
๐ฅถ I KNEW my muscles would be aching!
And yet…I still enjoyed it!
๐๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐ข๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ง! ๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ! โ
๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐, ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐๐ก ๐๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ, ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐! ๐
In other words:
๐ You donโt run a marathon just to exhaust your muscles. You also do it to see what your body is capable of.
๐ You donโt play a sport just to risk bodily injuries. You also do it to see how you compete against other players.
๐ You donโt learn a skill just to learn it. You also do it to see what else your brain doesn’t know about the world.
๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ -๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ญ-๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐!
As I was shoveling, I got so much into the flow of doing it I even shoveled the sidewalks too!
Again, there were plows for that too, but I didnโt care! ๐
There’s an ancient Greek proverb which echoed in my mind as I kept shoveling: “๐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐บ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ.” ๐
And once everything was done, I got to fully feel the fruits of my labor! โค๏ธ
๐๐๐๐๐! ๐ช
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐! ๐
๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐! ๐ฏ
“๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐!” ๐ก๏ธ
“๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐!” ๐
If I can make a task as “mundane” as shoveling a meaningful experience, I have to ask: what are YOU capable of making meaningful in your life? โค๏ธ
What dragons can you create to slay? What missions can you accept to accomplish? What hero’s journey can you undertake in your own backyard? โ๏ธ
Because when you don’t have any, I encourage you to create some! The Stoic philosopher Epictetus had a point โฌ๏ธ:
“๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฉ๐บ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข, ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐จ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ – ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด? ๐ค
๐๐ฃ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ด๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐บ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด.” ๐
And that’s why I shoveled! It had nothing to do with the plowers! It had everything to do with creating a meaningful life. ๐
๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ…๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฌ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ. โค๏ธ
Make life fun, even when there’s no reason to! But just don’t forget that making it fun is YOUR responsibility! ๐
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