Lives Not Lived
I recently read a post on Facebook by a woman who was feeling down because she was not making the world a better place.
My first instinct was to tell her to lighten up.
But who was I to discount her pain?
And then I recalled a quote I had read on one of those Buzzfeed lists. (Okay, I’m spending too much time on Facebook.)
Sometimes I can feel my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.
—Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
That quote hit home with me, and I realized a lot of us probably feel the way this woman does to at least some extent.
One of the big reasons I quit work was because I didn’t feel I was having an impact, and I still feel my impact is very limited (but I am having more fun.) I’m still asking myself what I am doing with my life.
And recently my 17-year-old daughter tearfully told me she wasn’t accomplishing anything.
At 17?
Maybe these feelings are worse at this time of year. After all, many of us are celebrating the birth of a 30-something-year-old who saved all of humanity by getting nailed to the cross. And then there’s that old geezer in the red suit who manages to travel the globe in one night to deliver presents to all good children. That gift you purchased at Macy’s with your 20% off coupon has no chance of competing.
I suspect most of us feel that we are working very hard, but many of us might be asking ourselves what difference are we making.
I have two pieces of unsolicited advice.
- Keep working hard. The alternative might result in an impact you don’t want to achieve.
- Lighten up. But don’t ask me how to go about doing that.
