22/ why i get up

Why do I get up? Why do you get up? Of course, I get up because my body wakes up and then I start my day. But why? Because I have to do x and y and because I have to do my job, make money, have appointments, etc.

What if today I had no nothing and none of these things, would I still get up? I mean, the bed can be a pretty nice and comfortable place. This is a powerful question. Why do I get up? What is there for me to do in the world? What gets me out of bed wanting to create or experience something? What makes me want to do that? And why do I do that?

They all seem like weird, crazy or even stupid questions. But are they really? We barely stop in life to ask some of the most fundamental questions, to question the things that have become so normal, so “obvious” that we rarely take the time to ask, to challenge them.

You could say that this is just what we do, this is what humans do, this is how the world works, it’s like breathing, it’s natural. But is it really? Breathing is something I do automatically, there is no conscious effort, I have been doing it since the moment I came out of the womb and, most importantly, when I stop breathing, my life in this body will end within 15 mins or less.

That doesn’t apply to all the other things that I am doing and why I am getting up. So why I am getting up? I think I am getting up because of three possible reasons: a) I get up to survive, because if I don’t get up, I am not foraging for food and then maybe not today but sooner than later I will die, so it’s about survival.

b) I get up because I choose to, I am excited about what I am about to do. To write, to create, to interact, and it all comes effortlessly. I love getting up because of all the beauty that is unfolding in a day, the surprises it brings, the awe I experience, another day around the sun breathing in life.

Or c) I get up because I have to because there is a boss waiting for me, because there is a client that expects something, the kids that need to be brought to school, you name it. Now b and c are overlapping. I might need to do something and I am also enjoying it, I might love doing it. I might need to bring the kids to school and I love doing that, it’s not a chore, it’s something I cherish.

Most of my life I believe I have spent doing c). That doesn’t mean I did not have great moments of joy, laughter and beauty but the majority was driven by I have to do x to get to y. And mostly not questioning why I had to do those things.

a) is not relevant for probably all the readers of this piece so I’ll skip this. b) is where I want to spend the rest of my life in. I need to make money to put food on the table and I might need to drop the kids off at school (though I could home school them but that’s a whole other topic) but I can bring joy into all of that and that is what I am committed to doing.

And if I can’t bring joy into those activities then I have to look into the mirror and ask myself, do I need to change my attitude (always a yes) or do I need to change what I am doing (sometimes a yes)? I can bring joy into the most mundane things like washing or clearing up the dishes. It can become a meditation, where I just rest in my being, feel my aliveness, my body moving, and appreciating how the cleared-up kitchen looks more welcoming.

Chores don’t have to be chores. It’s my resistance to them that makes them unwelcome and painful. And if I can’t find any sense in them, then I have to ask myself, why am I doing them, maybe I need to change something.

Steve Jobs said: “I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

I know what I need to change when I need to change. Whether it is something big like breaking up a relationship, quitting a job or moving to a different place or as small as a routine that no longer serves me, I know deep down there’s something that needs to change and my job as a human being is having the courage to take action what I know needs to be done.

And it is not from a place of craving or wanting something different, it is from a place of knowing, there is no doubt, that the change is needed because the current way no longer serves me.

I might have huge resistance to it because it will be difficult, I might be judged, I might hurt other people’s feelings and society might ridicule what I am doing. But when I know I know and I know it has to be done because when I live in full alignment with myself, I know why I get up every morning.