Hi there. Adrenaline was published just about a week ago and we had this section called Restpiration Answers where we answered some questions from some precious individuals. However, at a glance, it is often tempting to doubt the rationale and practicality of the answers provided. So in this post, I’m just taking the time to establish the basis of the answers provided so that you can also appreciate and fully grasp them. For today’s post, we’ll consider a question from Teddy. Enjoy…
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Question
Hi Restpiration, I’m Teddy, a 3rd year student pursuing Economics. I should have completed University about three years ago but I continually have this feeling that I don’t belong where I am (that’s my programme). That was the same feeling I had that made me change my programme twice so that I could finally be in a place where I fit. When I changed to the programme that I’m offering now, I was more like “This must be it” but nowadays, I’m more like “Maybe not”. So what do I do… do I keep changing programmes until I find where I fit or do I just accept the fact that I may never fit into any programme and be content with where I am?
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Answer
Hi Teddy. Thanks for asking this question. I somehow feel that this is not just true for you but many others who are in school.
It seems to me that you’re actually on a quest, which is to find your place in life and that’s good. Again, it seems to me that you’ve chosen your profession as your main vehicle to get you to your destination. The only thing about this vehicle you’ve chosen is that it is constantly evolving and in a lot of ways unpredictable. Fortunately, who you are isn’t. You’ll always be you and never someone else. So can I ask that you, mentally, detach the feeling of “fitting in” from your programme of study. This makes the two, that is the feeling of fitting in and your programme of study very distinct components which allows the fitting in experience to become more of an internal experience not affected by external happenings. When this happens, you’ll be able to see possibilities both inside and outside the scope of your programme of study where you can fit in and be efficient. I hope this helps.
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Foundation
Life is so diverse and more infinite than our finite minds can ever comprehend. Thus, to really live is to be open to the million experiences life has to offer and the experience of joy and fulfillment is no exception.
We live in a culture where the youth especially are conditioned to think of life and satisfaction only in terms of their jobs and careers. Not that it is wrong but just that it’s limited and limiting in a whole lot of ways. When asked ‘what do you do?’ , our response usually is ‘Oh, I am a dentist, lawyer…’ We respond to ‘doing’ (What do you do?) with ‘being’ (Oh, I am…). When that becomes the case, we usually fail to see ourselves and our lives beyond what our jobs have to offer. We limit ourselves into feeding right from the pity palms of our professions.
So what am I implying with all this? That you abandon your job and seek other alternatives of being satisfied in life?
That’s not the case and it’s certainly not what I’m driving at. Abandoning your job to seek other alternatives to achieve what you thought your job would give you sounds pretty much like the same thing. It’s just like freeing yourself from one addiction only to look for something else to be addicted to.
The truth really is that you are satisfied with life already but the only thing is that you think you’re not (a statement I borrowed but not sure who it’s from). Satisfaction is something the Creator didn’t leave to chance, He crafted it into His Creation right from the beginning. Only our moment- to- moment thinking gets in the way. This moment- to- moment thinking ties our fulfillment and satisfaction to things like our jobs, partners, assets etc. But really those things have nothing to do with our satisfaction because even before we knew what a job was, or before we had a spark of interest for our partners, we were fulfilled.
So, in actual sense, I’m just trying to help you dissociate your sense of satisfaction from “things” and “titles”. When this happens, no matter where you end up working or who you’re with, you’ll still be satisfied because you’ve found that satisfaction in you- which is where the Creator placed it in the first place.
If this has been helpful to you, kindly share with others.
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Love,
Restpirant Jerome
Restpiration 