Peaking Out of the Box

I had an interesting conversation with a friend in Missouri last night. While she takes classes to be a Yoga instructor, she has grown in other ways in her thinking. I have been waiting for this to happen as she is a devout Christian but has to study Buddhism in her classes among many other ideals she has never been exposed to.

She even apologized to me for something I've been pretty set on for a while because although she trusted me, my heart and intelligence, she didn't really understand why I thought the way I did. We won't get into that discussion, but it's important to note why were talking about this subject.

The discussion, although brief, sparked a question inside of me that I couldn't get off my mind last night. Perhaps that's why I tossed and turned last night until 4am and woke up at 8am without being able to go back to my usual late Sunday morning snooze. And here I am writing before noon.

The question that sat with me was...

What Box Do You Put Yourself In?

Sort of to the old saying 'think outside of the box'. But more to the 'why are you living the way you do?'

About 5 years ago, I did something I never thought I would, could or should do. I joined a direct sales company. Keeping my career at a big box home improvement store where I had worked for about 15 years at that time, I decided to move into a completely unknown world of making money without going to work. I went to a party, enjoyed the product, knew I was good at public speaking and watched a stranger collect money on a couch of a living room while we drank wine. Say what?!

My brother has a saying he posted years ago and it has always stuck with me.
Leap and the Net shall appear. 

I leapt. And entered a direct sales world that no one I knew was doing. I felt like a pioneer in my family. Not sure if they scoffed (they wouldn't) or were thrilled, I was sure they'd worry a bit about how I was going to make this work with my kids in tow and 40 hours plus on my back. But I did it. And as I changed from one company to another until I found what really inspired me, I found myself poking my head outside of  my box.

This is where you come in. And my conversation with my friend. I'm going to list some questions here that are nonjudgmental or in attempts to be rude, but I'd like you to consider WHY you do these things in your life. Mainly, I'm going to guess that the answer is 'that's how I grew up' or 'that's what I was taught'. There may even be a stout 'because it is the truth and I believe it.' Ok, fine. Me too. But who are those people that succeed in life and happiness that are doing things no one taught them? Only things they sought out to learn and explore and inherit for themselves? Let's get to the questions.

1. Do you live in the same town you grew up in? Why have you never moved away?
2. Did you have the same religion as your family? If so, have you ever looked to educate yourself on other religions?
3. Do you have the career you wanted growing up? Is it really what you wanted or is it what you were told you wanted because that's what you should want and others thought you'd be great at it?
4. Can you leave the house in unconventional clothing or style and feel comfortable?
5. Do you have 2 dining rooms in your house or 2 living rooms? One formal, one for daily use?
6. Where/when did you stop dreaming? If you haven't stopped, do you actively look to gain knowledge, know-how, exposure or experience of the thing you dream of?
7. If you could wipe the slate completely clean, other than your loved ones - what would you REALLY do with your life?

Okay - whew - so that was heavy. These questions might be better pondered and jotted down on paper to really dig into them. What I think will happen is at first, you'll answer them half heartedly. Happy or content in your life, beliefs and standards you're probably going to say to yourself - it's cool. My life is good and I don't need any changes.

But here's what I think and where my concerns lie therein. Something hit me like a ton of bricks in the last few years that keeps making me ask the question "why do we do things this way and who are THEY to tell me how to do it?" I'm not talking about The Man. I'm talking about all humans since the creation of humanity that dictated piece by piece what a life lived should reflect. We do things because our parents taught us and their parents and their parents before them. We adapted to economy and technology, but few of us took the time to put up a STOP sign and rewrite history.

I have to keep asking the question why. Why are we so cookie cutter? Why am I doing this for someone else's dictation of my life? Why am I moulding myself this way and who said I had to?

Who said I had to???

(Just a sample,  Haven't actually colored yet)

Don't get me wrong, I do kind of live in a cookie jar with all the other cookies. But today, I put crazy blue eye shadow on and tomorrow my hair color is going lavender. My conventions are becoming less about what I am told I should do versus what I want to do. It's taking me 39 years to get here. I wish I had the guts to be who I wanted to be when I was 20. But I was in fear of not being accepted, not having approval and not being surrounded by people who think like my parents or teachers told me to think. I have always been the more rebellious one of my siblings. For that I can be proud (chuckle). But I wanted to know what Box you put yourself in, that you'd like to climb out of just for a little fresh air. And if the Net Shall Appear - what Leap will you take?