Living Organism

It’s empowering to be an over achiever; to be able to do so much on your own. Start a business. See it flourish. Repair your own car whenever it breaks down. Build your own bike. Build your own house. Start another business. Then another one. Sometimes three or more of these things going on simultaneously. There are many of us out there like this. Some call it serial entrepreneurism. Some call it having a lot of energy. Others call it talented.

I call it a demon.

Strong words, I know. But the reality is that many of us over achievers are haunted by our own drive. And we are robbing ourselves of life. It’s difficult for us to Just Be.

Just Being is concept that my best friend introduced me to about a year or two ago. After grasping the idea behind this concept, the light went on for me…big time. To say this light going on was like a blind man being able to see would not do the realization I experienced any justice. For me, it was more like Helen Keller getting all her senses back instantaneously; like a shot to the arm with some of Baltimore’s nastiest, most potent methamphetamine. An eye opening rush. Ya. I’m tellin’ ya…the light went on big time.

I learned that Just Being is the act of connecting with and appreciating the simplistic. People. Breathing. A dog’s hot and smelly breath. The smile you’ve seen a trillion times on your significant other’s face. The color of their eyes.

The demon keeps us over-achievers driven. And when unchecked, the demon keeps us from seeing the things that Just Being allows us to see. I call it a demon because there’s possibly more bad that comes from the trait of over-achieving than there is good. When you are driven like I am, you are often willing to sacrifice Just Being for what you might gain if you keep concentrating on tomorrow. In effect, you’re stealing your own life away. And often times making those around you miserable in the process.

Sure, it’s great to achieve and to always want to reach the next level. But Lord…it’s all passin’ us by, man. Let’s slow-it-the-hell-down. All that business speak. All that material stuff. The chronic achievements. When is enough, enough? We’re chasing fool’s gold. The real gold is right here, right now, right in front of us. We’ve already won. We need to remind ourselves of this on a daily basis and we must never forget it. We need to keep our demons at bay and spend more than ample time Just Being.