Missing Your Life
What stresses, ambitions, or disappointments may be preventing you from seeing the joys of your life?
Our Experience
Rainn Wilson was the actor who played ‘Dwight,’ in the popular TV show, The Office. He was the nerdy, exacting bully pitted against ‘Jim, (John Krazinski).
After years of obscure roles in theater and TV he was finally a success. The show lasted ten years and Wilson was nominated three times for an Emmy.
In several interviews a few years ago he described those years as some of the worst in his life.
He was in the grip of “a lot of chronic, anxious ambition, fueled by comparison and envy.”
Looking back now, more than a decade after the show ended, he is struck with the contrast in perspective.
“While I was in it, I was dissatisfied, wanting more, and all these years later I am just so grateful for the experience.”
Ironically, in one of the scenes in The Office a character said,
“I wish there was a way to know that you were in the good old days before you left them.”
Of course, it may be impossible to inform the present with the wisdom of the past, but asking the right questions about the present might get you there.
Ask yourself,
What joys in my daily life am I just not seeing right now?
What stresses or problems have hold of me?
What ambitions or opportunities are consuming my attention?
In a close group of fellow pastors that had been meeting monthly for years, one of the group said to me,
“Mark, you are the most chronically disappointed person I know.”
Ouch. It was disappointing to hear that.
But he was right.
I was always complaining about not doing more, not having more impact, not being enough of what others needed.
He wanted me to know what a good life and ministry I was having.
Again, he was right.
Now I prompt myself to be present to The Good Old Days, in two ways.
I say, “This moment I’m blessed by _______”
I do a quick Worry Inventory, shining a light on my fears and insecurities as well as discerning what I can do about the things I actually control.
What’s great about your life right now?
