In my last post I mentioned that 2021 was for me… “a year to consolidate my emotions and redefine my sense of meaning and purpose in life.”
In reflection, one of the things that I realised was the way I was living my life currently was not doing me, my creativity and my health any good at all.
So, in order to make the necessary changes needed to remedy this, I’ve decided that the way I want to live my life from now on is slow, steady, simple and silent.
Well, what does that really mean?
A core fundamental belief of mine is that there is no “THE meaning of life” but “A meaning of life” therefore any meaning I have for my life is one that I create and insert into my existence rather than something external that I use my existence to find.
With that being said, here are my reasons for wanting to change my life and live in this way.
Slow
First of all, there is a reason why the term “rat race” exists. Life seems to be one big rush from one event to another without taking into consideration why the rush is happening in the first place.
We as a society have been duped into believing that the world is a fast paced, busy place and only the fastest, busiest and most ruthless with their time and energy will survive it.
This has permeated into the toxic world of “hustle culture” exemplified by people such as Gary Vaynerchuk for instance.
I’ve known for a long time that I’ve needed to slow my life down and find a way to get myself off of this perpetual hamster wheel that I (and everyone else in the world for that matter) find myself on at the moment.
By slowing down my life I am able to live my life the way I want to live it, work the way I want to work it and relax in the way that I want to relax.
Steady
Since Mara passed away, I have gone through a rollercoaster of emotions which have had profound effects on my life in both good and bad ways.
The bad way was that for a period of time I just gave up and let myself go through my grief and got very sick which tipped my body over the edge into Type 2 Diabetes territory.
The good way was that thankfully the Type 2 diagnosis was the kick up the arse I needed to make the significant changes in my life to where I’m now on my way back to greater mental, physical and spiritual health.
The steady path I wish to take is the middle way of moderation, routine and discipline which I believe are the key factors in me getting on with it and moving forward with my life because with the world the way it is at the moment, it’s so very easy to be put off your centre these days.
The world around us offers many temptations and distractions all designed to make you become more susceptible to advertising and the prevailing narrative of the times through the various media that we all consume.
Simple
One of my main aims of 2022 is to simplify my life and distill who and what I am into the smallest possible footprint that I can operate in.
As I mentioned in another blog post, what I want to be essentially doing is getting rid of the things that I don’t need and for me to keep the things that I really do need, the things that will serve my purposes the best.
For example, as a musician I, like most other musicians, suffer from a bit of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) and because of this I have accumulated a bit of gear that for some of them, I need to find good homes for.
I know that what I don’t need anymore can be more useful to somebody else so I’m very comfortable doing that.
Simplifying, decluttering, minimalising, whatever you want to call it, is a really essential part of moving forward.
The more simple I make my life, the more time I can devote to what matters to me most, the less margins of error I need to navigate and the less (unnecessary) choices that I need to make.
I’ve been known to overthink things from time to time and because of this I suffer from analysis paralysis on an almost daily basis. Making a choice, moving forward and taking action on it can be a real challenge.
I know that I need to be clear in my focus and intention, to be decisive with my choices and to take action on those choices with methodical determination. I believe that living a more simple life will help me greatly.
Silent
NO! It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to play music anymore as that’s not the kind of silence I’m talking about.
What I really mean is creating a life in which I can eliminate the unnecessary noise and chatter that happens inside my head and THAT is what I want to eliminate from my life, because as the old saying goes…
“Silence is golden.”
Even though I have gone through some massive life changes of late, internally the monkey inside my head is well and truly active.
I am getting better at silencing the chatter but I know full well that this is a full time job that will take the rest of my life (and perhaps a future lifetime or two) to master.
As I’ve mentioned before, I can have some issues with overthinking and placing myself in a quieter environment with less distractions will go a long way in helping me to give my inner monkey an extended holiday.
So in conclusion there you have it, my reasons for wanting to live a slow, steady, simple and silent life.
It’s my hope that by doing this I can create a healthier, more creative and spiritually fulfilled existence for myself and that my creative output from now on, can be the major benefactor of these changes.
Wish me luck and watch this space…
Peace,
Corey 🙂
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