Build, build and build some more.
It’s a constant in my life. And here I am… bored, battling an existential crisis.
It happens every time nearing the completion of a project, a goal or defining life event.
Conquering something so big in life, becomes disappointment so quickly. The high of struggling deep and long, gives way to only the briefest lapse in joy of achievement.
What a bunch of bull spending so much time and effort working for something.
Alright, I’ll stop speaking in code.
I feel like I have everything that I could possibly have at this point in my life. Health, financial independence, a beautiful home, car, great place to work, growing side business, awesome relationships and maybe a puppy coming along the way. And you might be like ‘boo hoo, Lam, let me show you this tiny little fiddle I’ll play for you’. And you would have every single right to feel that way.
What I really don’t want this to look like is anyone’s egregious perfect Facebook timeline. Rolling my eyes at all of your Tik-Tok dance videos…
I shouldn’t revel in the fact of completing challenges as I do. It’s not the completion I should be proud of. Rather, I should see the completion of one, opening the door to a whole new set of challenges.
See, I have always loved the start of a puzzle. I can see the final image in my head, but here are 10,000 pieces you must re-orientate into correct x,y,z coordinates and position. But every time I got to the last 20 or so pieces, my heart would palpitate in anxious anticipation to the completion.
I didn’t want the epic journey that I had just embarked on to end.
I tend to forget. There’s another puzzle box I can reach for.
If you’re late in the career, looking at what’s in the twilight years, congrats, you’re about to embark on a completely new challenge in your life.
Middle and early in the career? You get to set out even more challenges for yourself. Open up as many puzzles boxes as you want. But remember, you only get so much time to work on each box. Complete the ones you deem most important. Then move to the next.
I was so bored at home during covid. And I had always wanted to create my own furniture and start a woodshop. So I did what any covid infected person would do, had plywood dropped off at my house and began assembling a new bed frame from scratch. Couldn’t have been any prouder myself of the result. Another puzzle put together and completed.
So which puzzle box do you want to thrive on for now?
Lam