Part sixteen of the A-Z series P is for Pre-packaged life.
Pre-packaged life (TM). This is a term I came up with to describe those who have bought into an illusion of a life, it has no thought, no intention or consciousness particularly involved in it. It’s merely a walk through a predetermined checklist of life events set before them by relatives and also by an almost paralyzing fear of doing something wrong.
So they accept the package given them it goes a little something like this…
You will go to this school.
You will take these classes.
You will do these after school activities.
You will have these friends.
You will date these people.
You will graduate and go to this college.
You will be involved in this college group.
You will do these activities while at college.
You will graduate college.
You will cheer for this sports team.
You will work in this field.
You will work at this company.
You will marry this person.
You will drive this car.
You will wear these clothes.
You will eat this type of food.
You will go to this church.
You will interact with these people.
You will watch this type of programming.
You will listen to this type of music.
You will have this amount of children.
They will go to this school, this church, interact with these people.
You will join this political party and vote the way you are told.
You will vacation at these places when we tell you to.
You will retire when we tell you to.
You will live here when you retire.
You will do these activities when you retire.
You will be buried in a manner and in the place pre-determined.
The end.
All of this to fit a pre-package mold of what a successful life looks like. Now granted there are people where this path genuinely fits them. They are able to fulfill their true potential on this tract and this may be their actual choices for themselves. However, for many people they have spent more time contemplating what they want in their coffee at Starbucks then they ever have contemplated who they are and what would be the optimum potential of their life experience.
Many merely march blindly through the checklist of a pre-packaged life because that is what they are “supposed” to do and feel quite desperate and depressed because it has nothing to do with authentic passion or what they may have been placed on this planet to do. I believe we all have an optimum potential available to us. Yet that opportunity takes some work to achieve. The reward is that of the mountaineer who climbs Everest or the explorer that takes an uncharted path. Very few get to see the exquisite places kept secret by the Earth and by Life given only to those courageous and brave of heart enough to take the journey.
Summary of a Happy Life 