A challenge is something new and difficult which requires great effort and determination.
~Collins Dictionary
Life itself is a challenge. I recently announced to my husband that I no longer will let myself fall into a rut. I see too many examples of life being wasted due to being complacent. I admit I am guilty of such as well. It is too easy getting into a comfort zone and continue to do so with excuses and definitions to subscribe and justify ones actions of complacency, such as falling into habits and wanting life to be content and comfortable.
I am not saying that I don't want my life to be content and comfortable. Yet, let's define what it means to be content and comfortable. Will money provide contentment and comfort in a person's life? How about having a happy family? Having a good life partner? Being healthy? In order for a family to be happy, its members would need to be able to provide for each other. Same goes for having a life partner who will be at your side for better or for worse. I've known many relationships having failed due to the worse. And the key to being healthy is being able to have good quality and nutritious food, which costs money doesn't it?
Except for the few born with a silver spoon, everyone else still has to find a way to make enough money to be content and comfortable. This will undoubtedly require some, if not tremendous amount of challenges. So we tell ourselves that we are happy and contented without wealth in order to make ourselves feel better and avoid having to get off our asses and face the challenges that will come when we go out there to make more money.
Even if it wasn't about money, so we tell ourselves, we, as human beings tend to get bored when everyday is the same. I am unable to comprehend those who go through life day to day the same; the same job, the same routine, especially those who make a monthly wage living. I call it a life of complacency. Every month at the same time of the month you get a salary. Then you spend it on bills and monthly payments for the car, the house, fees, and such and with the leftover, after putting away some for savings, spend that on entertainment; movies, travel, eating out, buying clothes, and such. And this goes on day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year until the end of life. For those who did put away some in savings, it usually ends up being used for your children's college education, their wedding and finally on old age medication and pain relief until the day we die, some leaving some funds for our beneficiaries to be lucky enough to inherit and continue living the same cycle of life.
We have been brainwashed with the Lego movie song that "Everything is Awesome!" with this everyday cycle of life repeating itself over and over again kinda lifestyle. That the less challenges we face, means that our life is better. We use the resources of the earth with new clothes, furniture, toys, cars and food wastage because we feel that they are part and parcel of the necessity of living. And yes, we have to have money to do so.
But, do we see that we are just living a life of existence? We are just existing in this life. Eat. Sleep. Defecate. Copulate. Buy things. Find entertainment. Repeat.
In this complacent lifestyle, we are users. We use up the resources of the earth. We create waste. And then we leave this earth. We make ourselves feel that we have made a contribution by telling ourselves that as long as we do not do anything bad to others and remember our Creator we have contributed for the greater good. Easy, isn't it? Hardly any challenges in order to achieve all of that. Just have to find a decent job of course. And keep it for a significant number of years in order to be able to save a significant amount of funds to sustain the length of our old age and to support whatever ailments we have until we have to leave. That is, if our savings last until that day. If not, then to hope that our children or grandchildren have been brought up such that they will take responsibility for taking care of us until then.
Nope. Not for me. Because I think that human beings were created special. Unlike the rest of living things who were meant to follow a set of rules in the cycle of nature, we are meant for greater things. Human beings were given intelligence to pursue a purpose in life; How to solve problems for a better world. To use our minds to realize the rationality of all of us as equals and to work together not being compelled by made up norms meant to divide us due to our differences in race, culture, nationality or religion. And it is these norms that have been put forth by those, to put us into a lifestyle of complacency so that we are reduced to become creatures of habit living a predictable lifestyle rather than urging us to get out of our rut and challenge ourselves to constantly change, upgrade, evolve and accept life and the rough patches we need to go through to become a continued best and new version of ourselves everyday, every hour, every minute.
They say fear is good for you. I have been fearful of fear since I knew about fear. I feared my first day of school in a foreign country. I feared making friends because they were strangers first. I feared going to each of the seven new schools I had to go to each time my family moved to a new place. I feared my teachers because I was different and my inquisitiveness was not accepted as a norm in the learning process. I feared telling my parents what I was going through at school because I didn't want to bother them as they were too busy to ask. In short, I feared anything new because it would not be the norm and most likely not accepted by general opinion. I feared being different. Therefore, I feared being me. By avoiding fear, I gave in to the need to fit in, to be part of the group, to conform to what others think and do.
No more. I just can't. I have been failing at being normal. Due to my following what others deem for me to be the appropriate actions, accepted appearance, lifestyle and even career causing me to have a complacent lifestyle which led to a mundane and predictable existence, I can no longer accept that. I often question myself if I am too late. Another consequence of my fears it seems. Only realizing that I had a choice to live my life to my potential at the late age of 40 after my kids left for college and my relationship with my spouse was on shaky ground due to inadequate financial earnings leaving me to contemplate the need for more independent pursuits and the challenges it brings as well as my having to learn how to conquer the concept of fear in all of its forms.
By doing so, I have had to face challenges that forced me to face my fears, and learn how to use these fears as my fuel to overcome these challenges. The challenges will keep on coming. I keep on learning. I am no longer complacent in my life. It is full of ups and downs. And I am grateful that due to this I have lost the friends who want to keep me in the norm, but I have gained new ones who continue to support me and strengthened my relationship with my spouse, for they believe in me in good times and in hard times. My contribution to life may be small for now. I am still finding my purpose. But everyday is different and life is full of surprises.
No wonder they call this a journey. I have been on it since.
I call them #auntyfaizahlifeadventures.
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