If you ask my 75 year old mother what she is up to on any given day at any given time she will say she is earning her PhD. That's right her Doctorate Degree in "Doing Nothing". Now, before you shrug this off as wasting away her life, hear me out.
In her mind she has fulfilled all life's important roles: wife, mother, grandmother, and employee. She poured all her energies into doing these things and in some cases continues to do these things well. A careful glimpse into her world, shows that the focus has changed significantly from them to "ME". This wisdom comes without apology.
The day starts without rush, in fact no appointments are scheduled until after noon. Each morning she contemplates what her palate would enjoy and settles for nothing less. This culinary delight is followed by a morning walk and 50 reps on the stationary bike on her living room floor. Then it's the daily romp with the Young and the Restless, word puzzles in the afternoon, errand runs, dinner, an indulgent bath and back to bed.
She is not focused on making change the world contributions, legacy building, finding her purpose or any of that crap. Why? Simply because its already done. She, like many her age is happy with herself and her life, exactly as is!. Expressing herself flashing well manicured nails (with designs), she states with conviction, "this TIME is for ME. I do what I want, when I want and it feels wonderful!"
Clearly she knows who she is after all this time. Isnt' that really the goal? There is no struggle to please those around her, to posture in order to feel important, to collect a bunch of stuff you will need to get rid of eventually, to worry about what the neighbors think or even what her 4 daughters think. She is as self aware and assured as they come, "doing nothing" as she claims.
Let us all hope to earn this credential. Where "busy doing nothing" is an honorary degree of a life fully lived. Wow, wouldn't that be "something".
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