Your Life - Functional or Fulfilling?

The alarm clock goes off.

It's early in the morning.

It's Monday. 

Another day of the same old, same old.

You mutter to yourself,

"I don't wanna get up."

Millions of people are in the same position.  They don't wanna get up.  You've heard it before and have more than likely said it a few hundred times in your life. 

Why?

You didn't get enough sleep…,

You have a problem at work you don't want to face...,

or could it be...

"I just don't like my life."

You're not alone. 

Usually life consists of time spent at the job and home.  It’s not that we can’t function at our life.  We perform the tasks necessary to get the job done and probably do them quite well.  Plus, we get money for our jobs. The bills get paid, food gets bought, and we maintain a certain level of comfort.  Honest days work for an honest days pay as the cliché goes.  It’s functional.

But soon, functional life becomes routine.  Everyday, the same thing.  Soon it becomes every week, every month, every year.  Thoughts come to mind.  Thoughts like, “What am I doing with my life?”,  “Is this what life is all about?”,  “There has to be more”.

I sympathize with you.  I’ve been there myself on numerous occasions.  Finding myself in bed and not wanting to get up, I wondered, “Why am I here on earth.  What was God’s main purpose for having me here?” 

I searched throughout my soul. Long days of just thought.  It all came to the point where I saw my own funeral.  What was accomplished?  Living life in a constant rerun?  What a terrible thought.  Dying and regretting not fully having lived doing what I wanted to do.  Then I thought, “What do I want to accomplish before I reach this point?  What would I regret not doing if I died tomorrow?”

There was one thing that kept popping in my head. 

I love to perform…moreover, to sing.  As a child, I used to love to sing to my family, friends, or even just to myself.  It brought a lot of joy and peace to me.

So I decided to go out and pursue it.  There were others who gave me a lot of negative slack for this.  Boy the negative people came out of the woodwork.  And trust me, it put some doubts in my head.  But there were others who were positive about it.  Who wanted me to succeed.  I pressed on in spite of whether others were for or against it.  It didn’t take long before I found places where I could sing after work.  Karaoke was a great outlet.  It became a mainstay for me.

Singing felt great.  I entered competitions.  Didn’t win many, but a couple I did.  But whether I won or not, I soon came to learn, however, that most of this still left me feeling empty.  I felt lost.  I knew singing was my passion.  So why did I feel this way?  Something was missing.

Then – two things changed my ways of thinking. 

One –

A friend whom I look up to by the name of Chuck.  This man, who is in his upper sixties, sang at the same place I would go.  He has an awesome voice.  But above that, he puts on one heck of a show.  This guy might have been in his sixties…but no one told him that.  The first time I saw him performing for the audience… they ate it up!  He invited them up with him to dance.  He sang to them, looking in their eyes.  He shook their hands.  He performed rings around a lot of people in their twenties.  Boy, how the crowd danced, cheered, they wanted to by him beer.  (ok…corny rhyme)  Point is, he wasn’t singing to hear himself sing…it was for everyone.

Two –

I heard a preacher around that same time say some magical words that inspired me.  God gives each of us gifts to share with others.  They are not for us to keep.  That would be shallow and hollow…a form of greed.  Our blessings are to be shared with others so that those people can be blessed.  In turn, they might be inspired to share their personal blessings with others as well.  A non-materialistic form of giving.  Think of it as Christmas everyday of the year.  Sharing your God given talents with those who may need lifted spirits. 

That’s what was missing.  It was doing for others, instead of just doing for myself.

I changed the whole way I approached singing.  I have to say that it made a world of difference.  Life became different for the better.  I started singing to entertain others.  To help them get over a lousy day.  Smiling, dancing, having a good time.  You know what?  Those gifts I started giving out, came right back to me.  I found out that what you put out in the world, comes right back to you. 

People came to me to shake my hand.  They wanted to buy me beers.  They requested to hear songs from me.  In turn, I was getting that same energy of gratefulness and happiness.  I felt inner peace and joy.  Singing suddenly was the opposite of empty.  It became fulfilling.

That’s not to say that I, or we, should expect things in return for what we do.  Plenty of times I would give a great performance, to only come back and not get a single bit of acknowledgment.  We shouldn’t expect praise, a thank you, or even an acknowledging…not a thing. 

Now, I’m well aware that we are all like opera singers, warming up for a big show.  We keep saying, “Me Me Me Me Me!!!”  Asking what’s in it for us.  That defeats the whole purpose of giving yourself to others.  It changes what you do from being a Fulfilling gift into just Functional work.

And there’s where a big difference in what our lives are, and what they could be.

A functional life is you doing something in the hopes of getting something in return for it.

A fulfilling life is you giving and not expecting anything in return.

Figure out what your gifts are.  How can you be a blessing to someone else?  It doesn’t have to be a big deal.  Are you good with animals, cooking, motorcycles, sports, kids?  Find others that love what you have a passion for.  Find a benefit that supports these things.  Heck, make up your own benefit for a cause you want to support and get those people in your group to help raise money for it.  There are plenty of things to do. 

The key is – To Do.

It’s up to no one else but yourself to decide how you want your life to be. 

For me, (Me Me Me Me Me!!!), I am using my fulfilling life to do just that. 

It’s getting easier to get out of bed.  (Now if I could only get myself to be earlier…)