Life Lies in the Mundane

I am now a champion of the day to day, although it took me awhile to get here. The day to day, the ordinary stream of life, reminds me of the tortoise and the hare fable – wagering who will win the race. The hare is very confident of winning, so it stops during the race and falls asleep. The tortoise continues to move very slowly but without stopping and finally emerges victorious. The moral lesson of the story is that you can be more successful by doing things slowly and steadily than by acting quickly and carelessly. Most of us are the tortoise without even realizing it. Slow and steady routines and habits can end up carving out what is a successful “winning” life and one that is beautiful to behold. You feel the rhythms of life more when slowing down, which leaves room for appreciation. Life is mundane when you get right down to it, and that mundaneness creates, over time, a deep level of satisfaction with daily life.

As I reflect on my own years, I have often chastised myself for not being more aggressive in living. I live my life on a day to day basis, or what is often referred to as the “daily grind”. I completed the typical milestones – marriage, children, career, and now I am at the point where retirement is staring me in the face. As I toil away with the daily grind of living, I find myself thinking – did I miss an extraordinary life, or am I leading one?

You know the adage of putting wants “out in the universe,” and these desires will manifest and unfold to you? That has been me for over a decade now. I had this nagging thought that I could or should be doing more. Life in the mundane is where I received my answer. The universe has addressed my request of “give me more to do” with the response of “you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing.” What keeps coming back to me is “continue and forge ahead.” I am trusting this process, accepting it, and finding beauty in it.

Reflect on a time in your life when you had drama of any sort – an illness, loss of a loved one, a personal relationship falling apart, or trouble at home. For me, it was the time I spent recovering after being struck by a car in my early 20’s. After a few months spent in traction and recovering at home, I discovered that the simplest things were not within my reach – walking, driving, shopping, and even going to the bathroom. I could do nothing independently. I craved the routine of living, the mundane. I yearned for the day when I could get dressed on my own, drive myself to work, and be able to conduct the simplest tasks without the assistance of others.

There is an absolute beauty in the ordinary. For me, some soul fillers are reading a few chapters of a book, taking a brisk walk around the neighborhood, grinding coffee beans and pressing start on my drip coffee maker, a freshly made bed, cooking a nice meal. Cycling with my biking family, enjoying a beer at the local brewery, making homemade pizza and Netflix binging, running errands with my husband which usually involves Ace Hardware, watching the Roomba spin around the house, burning incense, taking the late night run to Wendy’s after a most excellent game of Trivia, using the electric leaf blower and the sense of accomplishment I feel after all the leaves are off the driveway – this is the good stuff! So to all of us “ordinary” people, revel in your simple patterns.

In the mundane is where the fabulousness of life lies. Ordinary and every day rhythms are embedded in your soul more than you realize and can leave you with nothing but appreciation. My yearning to have an extraordinary life and one in the fast lane has not materialized, and for that, I am grateful. An intense, fast paced life might allow us to navigate quickly and efficiently, but the trade-off is a decreased appreciation of the sublime. The faster we go, the harder it is to perceive the magnificence of our astonishing, improbable, beautiful, and most importantly, ordinary existence. Take a look around you and feel blessed, inhaling and taking in all the little things that truly have the most meaning in life.