CHASING BUTTERFLIES
“I’m going to be rich!” Perhaps this is the greatest illusion that human beings can believe in…
Not that you don’t have a chance of getting rich, or having a lot of money, or having a comfortable standard of living. Far from it. It’s perfectly possible, but very unlikely to happen easily, and easier to happen through hard work. But these things are not the culmination of your life, and they should not guide the way you live. What is really worth seeking are the things worth living for.
What we cherish are those things that make our hearts beat faster, that make us happy, that we long to do. Those activities that we disappear into when we perform. For example, when we paint a picture, write a poem, or play an instrument, we are so involved in what we do that we become one with it. Time seems to slow down, leaving space only for the artistic work itself, allowing us the opportunity to focus our minds on the present moment. There is no room in our thoughts or our reality for anything else. In writing, the same phenomenon occurs, when we are “in the zone”. So immersed are we in the text that the external sounds of people or things seem distant to us, mere echoes of a past life, so to speak. It is in this state that we often find our true essence, our true “self”.
No other thing in life provides that union of emotion and purpose, of body and soul, when we feel that we are performing the task for which we came into this world and that we are fulfilling our purpose. Nothing else provides us with a greater sense of accomplishment.
The fact is that the more we do the activity we love most, the more our lives seem to have more meaning, purpose, and happiness. the whole world seems to conspire to help us and the possibilities are endless. And everything that takes us away from what we love most makes us more bored and frustrated.
Jobs and tasks that we hate cause us boredom and discomfort. Sometimes even gastritis and other diseases. Just thinking about going to the gym gives me a headache. Repetitive exercises, the smell of sweat, closed space, no thanks. I prefer to ride a bike outdoors, seeing people and the calm sea landscape. There is something deep inside us that seems to yell when an activity is not for our well-being, that we could be more useful and productive doing something else. Something that can identify us with our sense of happiness, the greatest purpose in life, I usually say.
Working in factories, performing repetitive activities, or doing anything with numbers, for example, is not my thing. Since college entrance exams, I always knew that I would never study anything related to numbers and advanced calculations. This made my choice of what to study much easier. As I always liked reading, I preferred to study journalism, where I could exercise my creative streak and write.
Everyone is right when they say that sometimes when it comes to finding a job, you have no choice and choose whatever is on the table to pay the bills. And that is completely valid, especially when someone has a family to support. But we must be careful when this stops becoming an option and becomes an excuse to pursue our dreams. Don’t sleep in the so-called “comfort zone” for too long, as it could become your permanent residence. Pay your bills, but dedicate some of your time to taking a little risk.
Life is like a small boat that we take, following between small streams and large seas, without knowing when we will have to face big rocks or when we will land in a safe harbor. What matters is to hold on tight when we are going through storms, and relax when in calm moments at sea, without ever losing sight of our objective.
Because, after all, what’s the point if we don’t pursue our goals? If we don’t fight to make our dreams come true, we are fighting to make other people’s dreams come true, like innocent children chasing illusions, chasing butterflies…
