Do Things in Life Ever "Get Better?"

I think we can all pretty much agree that life is not easy, and many of us struggle to navigate the world with our equanimity intact.

And so, we ramble along — doing the best we can — often with an internal dream of arriving at a point in life when things will "get better."

But do things really ever "get better?"

The "problem" with thinking in terms of life getting better is that we are effectively transferring responsibility for the outcome of our existence to outside factors.

Stated a little differently: We're (more or less!) admitting that life is happening to us — and we're just innocent bystanders — that than us being in the driver's seat of our lives!

Which brings me to the possibility that we are likely much better off if we start to focusing our energies on making life happen, the way we want it to.

Of course, we're often told that trying to control life is an exercise in futility, and that's not really what I'm suggesting, here!

The only thing I'm suggesting is that we might serve ourselves well by stepping away from some of the tendencies towards learned helplessness we've picked up along the way.

Whereas we can't 100% control life and our environment, we can certain become active agents in determining the outcome!

I lived for many years under the self-imposed illusion that "I couldn't help it" in the face of a large number of things that unfolded in my life.

Of course, that feeling had been entirely taught to me by my family of origin who were strong into imprinting things like duty and compliance on me, during my formative years.

Sometimes these habits can take a while to unlearn... taking accountability for the outcome of your life rather than declaring that things simply "happened" takes some getting used to!

However, taking on that accountability is one of the best ways to feel more empowered in your own life!

Thanks for coming to visit, and have a great remainder of your holiday weekend!

How about you? Are you an active agent in your own life? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.05.27 00:47 PDT
x783/2017