Live from the inside out, and not vice versa

A few months ago, a man asked me what it was like to be a writer and an academic married to a blue collar worker. I simply said, "I'm pretty blue collar myself." The colleague sitting next to me couldn't get over it. "Huh?" he said. "He can't be for real."

I laughed at the man's query because he obviously didn't know ME at all, and he made all kinds of faulty assumptions that showed how brainwashed he happens to be. Because we are not our jobs. If we are truly humans "being" in a variety of situations that we choose based on what resonates with our unique souls, then face it-- jobs will come and go. I think if we understand that, a lot of anxiety begins to roll off our backs-- because then we begin to live our lives based on something other than the status quo.

Some people have a tendency to paint themselves into boxes and corners that sometimes run counter to fully expressing who they are at the core. Then they wonder why they aren't happy, or why their kids aren't happy, or why life has so little meaning after working so hard for the things and accolades and positions.

The truth, as I see it, is that the limits and labels and qualifiers usually have less to do with the quality of our lives and much more to do with trying to get it right. NEWSFLASH! Trying to get it right will simply keep you trying to get it right. There is no right. That seems the bill of goods we've been sold-- whether by families, corporate leaders (who really stand to realize a great profit from convincing us that we are our jobs), media venues, etc. The message seems to be that if we take the right steps, and meet the right people, and go through the right doors, then ......... Well, that's not always so. There might just be another door, condition, connection, etc. and sometimes we don't know what we're getting into once we've gone through it!

So life is best lived with your whole self in mind-- regardless of your job or label. Sometimes it behooves us to turn off the television and plug up our ears, so we can hear something other than what's pushed into us by the powers without. Get in touch with your own values and your own voice. Live from the inside out, not vice versa.