When we first find something that gets us excited there’s a rush. Whether it’s a movie that we’ve been looking forward to (Hunger Games/Hobbit Part II/Thor: Dark World) or an object that’s been a craving of our heart for so long or some realization of how we can use our talents in a positive way, there’s a rush. Even more so when we’re seeking our spiritual path and we find something that makes sense. When we get that “aha!” that points us toward a solution to the Gordian knot our life’s been in or a passage out of the depths we’ve been stuck in or a light showing that not only are we in a tunnel, but there’s an end to it, there’s a rush.
Things start falling into place, everything feels light and bubbly like champagne, and everything is exciting. It’s hard to do everything you want to do and not enough hours in the day. It’s hard to wait for the next thing to come around so you can do more. It’s like the day before Christmas and getting to open that one present before the big day.
And then it happens. Christmas day. You’re given your presents, you unwrap them, and then you start playing with them. And more playing and more playing…. and the rush wears off until it’s gone. It doesn’t make the presents worthless, it doesn’t make the realizations wrong, in fact, when the rush leaves, another realization floods in. You are actually changing. Because all of this “aha” and doingness not only brought you joy and acknowledgement and validation, but it also brought you the ability to change and become better and make the life that you’ve always wanted to live. Which is great, but means that, as the old adage goes, “chop wood/carry water.” You have to do the work. And that work will actually do what you’ve set out to do, change you.
And that’s where people get scared. Because for some reason, people thing that becoming means changing into a brighter and shinier version of who they are right at that moment. They don’t think about the fact that to become who they want to be they will have to do more than change their brand of coffee and what clothes they wear. They will have to change. As in their identity. As in becoming someone new. As in not being who they have been. Which is fabulous and exactly what they wanted. Yay! But after the rush is gone is when the reality sets in. So enjoy the holidays, but hang in there because afterwords comes the hard/good stuff and the only way through it is through…to the new you.
