What Do YOU Want?

When do we ever not want something?

It’s a natural urge, one that compels us to leave the warm comfort of bed every morning.

All good.

Except, here’s where it can veer off track.

How do know what we truly want, when we don’t even know ourselves?

In a world that tells us what we should want (and who we should be) how are we supposed to know who we are, underneath all that?

Consider the technology we’re surrounded by. All the amazing inventions which led to another invention and another, all of that happened after a huge amount of trying and failing. Exposing different materials to different elements until getting it right – or accidentally discovering something else, equally mind blowing.

It’s as simple as trying something until it works.

As human beings, how often do we allow ourselves to try different things, step outside the confines of our comfort zone and see what else is out there?

What an opportunity to find out more about ourselves, right?

No wonder so many don’t know what they want; they’ve never given themselves the chance to have new experiences and try different things on for size.

Waking up in our tiny home this morning, I peered out the back window at the alfalfa field. A narrow ribbon of fog floated above it, and the horizon glowed a soft pastel pink with the promise of sun.

I can’t explain why I feel so content living in this 14-foot cargo camper conversion, and why I feel so agitated – uninspired and stuck – when I’m in a suburban home.

Yet, if I had never taken this leap, I’d never have known.

It’s counter intuitive: We’re all supposed to want that whole white picket fence thing, right?

At least that’s the memo I got.

Feeling unsatisfied, bored, listless in a world that seems to value what you have over how you feel. This probably explains the unrelenting quest for material things; we’re using and amassing them to try and make ourselves feel better.

But in a world where you care about connecting and learning more about yourself, honoring things that are important to you, it’s easier to hear yourself; listen to how you feel and adjust accordingly. All the extra “stuff” loses much of its allure.

The list of things we’re supposed to want – the type of person we’re supposed to be – is never ending. It’s exhausting and crushing having to contort yourself into something that doesn’t fit.

I think a big reason why I keep revisiting this topic is the very real fact that I so easily could have stayed put. Continued living a life where nothing was really wrong, but it wasn’t exciting or something I looked forward to, either.

I narrowly escaped a life of just going through the motions.

Change is possible. You don’t have to be reckless or irresponsible to go about it, either.

The more opportunities people give themselves to stretch and grow in ways they’re curious about, the better.