This was my life before I chose to break the cycle.
Does this sound familiar to your life?
How it Was Before I Chose to Break the Cycle
Wake up early. Tired. Not enough sleep.
Struggled to sleep from the stress of thinking about the next day.
Force myself up and up and out of bed.
Not enough time.
Too tired.
Stuck Inside a Perpetual Loop
Leave home with breakfast in hand. A quick bite to eat. Unappetising.
Start the car and just make it to the train station. Glad there is a parking space, when there isn’t enough time to park too far away.
Get on the train.
Smelly train.
Packed train.
Uncomfortable train.
Recognise the other commuters.
All of us stuck inside this endless loop of travel, work, travel, work, travel…
Rush, rush, rush.
Life is busy, and loud, and fast. There isn’t any time.
No time to really think.
I don’t mean the everyday thinking of what to have for dinner, what to wear or how to do better with work. I mean there isn’t any real time to think deeply.
Just enough time to worry endlessly.
There isn’t enough time to consider what is the ultimate goal? What am I really working towards? Is this just an endless waste of time?
What is the point of everything we do?
Why is it so important to do this or that, and who really benefits from my actions?
I wake up tired, barely able to function. The long commute to work where I am continually busy.
Rushed, too busy.
I complete the tasks before me. The endless cycle.
Move a number from here to there, consider the impact, try it another way.
Considering how my work has no real impact on the fate of the world. Just a reflection on the P&L of a corporation.
Will I even care about the outcome of this one day of work next year?
Hardly.
Take a short lunch break. I am “allowed” an hour unpaid but no one really takes it.
Unpaid Guilt Trip
The associated guilt of “leaving my desk” for lunch. So I pop out for a quick bite. Unhealthy choices. I come back and eat at my desk. I work. I become drained.
When making a living you start to feel dead inside. Less alive than when you started.
The work day in the office ends and it is a rush to the train station.
I want to leave early to get a seat on the train, but if I leave too early, I will give the wrong impression. Not a team player! So we watch the clock and pretend to look busy. Not enough time left to really start a task but too much time to waste.
The Train Home
Packed train. I’m no longer working but my head is stuck thinking about the next task in work. I’m tired from the day.
I try to think.
I’m optimistic of all the great things I can do.
Could do…
Won’t do…
Never did…
Finally Home
Train eventually pulls into the station. Rush to the car. Rush through the traffic home.
Finally home.
Left home in the dark and returned home in the dark.
Drained.
Just enough energy left to eat and prepare to do it all again tomorrow.
To worry about the next day.
Worry. Worry. Worry.
So, I try to think. Why am I doing this? What do I ultimately want out of my days labour?
Ultimately, I want happiness, security, to feel at peace. To embrace contentment.
So I start to break the cycle.
Taking Action and Changing the Narrative
Have you ever had a day like that? I have had many days like that. Some not so long ago.
- Do you have days where your job isn’t awful but it just doesn’t fill you with joy?
- A job that you just cannot stand, but don’t know what to do about it?
- Are you trapped in a job because you have debt and cannot afford to take a lower paid more fulfilling role?
Then this is the place for you.
This is a place to learn about personal finance and self-development. A place where you can explore your own personal paradigms, and to start putting a plan together of how you can live your most fulfilling life, with the time that you have remaining.
Welcome to DallasParadigm! I am so very glad you are here.
Join with me on a journey of self-discovery and improvement. One small step at a time.