Enlightenment Sound Bites
I hate memes like this:
Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Theresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.”
Social media can be useful. It connects us with friends, makes us new ones, makes us more aware of what’s in the world. But it can be a pain in the screen if we aren’t choosy about what we read — and what we post.
Besides the ubiquitous cat memes and recipes, there are quotes. So many quotes. By famous people, by our Aunt Mabel, even by the newest version of Grumpy Cat (thereby combining the essential Cat Meme and Famous Person Meme).
And that quote at the top? Maybe it was meant to be inspirational, but it was just another “you’re not good enough” meme.
There are so many of these Enlightenment Sound Bites around — they’re supposed to be uplifting, but they set us up to fail at yet something else. Things like this don’t take into account the complexity of a 21st century life, the multiple places screaming for our attention, the demands of a world that says we are on call 24/7.
It’s hard to get people to understand that.
Half my clients come to me convinced that they are lazy, they are missing their calling, and that there must be something they should do to be bigger, more successful, do more for more people. They want to know why they are such worthless disasters.
And it can take me more than one session to help them out of the Pity Pit they cast themselves into.
Look, forty years ago, people had a weekend that was respected; they weren’t expected to work seven days a week.
They were allowed to take a lunch break without appearing to be a “slacker” who “isn’t serious about their job.”
Their boss knew better than to constantly call them on their honeymoon to handle a work-related problem. (Yes, I know someone to whom this happened. They were on a cruise ship, two days out of port, and were told to find a way to show up to a meeting at the home office in 48 hours. Needless to say, they quit.)
Back in the time BCE (Before Computers Everywhere), we didn’t have to deal with social media, web marketing, a cell phone, texting and a dozen other things that either (a) used to be free but now cost money or (b) we didn’t have then and must have now to deal with the world and work.
You do. This is your world. So stop thinking you OUGHT to be as amazing as someone who didn’t have to deal with all this electronic, demanding insanity — and if you aren’t, you’re flunking Life 101.
To those who say I don’t have enough time — I get it.
But instead of comparing yourself to famous people and setting yourself up for another “fail,” look around at those who take your time and give nothing back but negativity, or those who take you for granted and don’t enrich your life.
Learn to say NO to them and YES to yourself.
It isn’t easy, but it can be done. And then, you WILL have more time. And you will have fought for it and earned it, so treasure it and do something with it that illuminates your life.
