NormsMilfordBlog

The smartphone selfie has become the predominant way of capturing and sharing big moments in our day-to-day lives. Selfies capture where you were, who you were with and what you were doing that seemed so worthy of a picture. Still, at the heart of it, selfies are all about me. Selfies provide a way to capture those, “Hey, look at me” moments that you just feel you must share with others; even is those you share them with could care less.

Perhaps, if it were possible, you should mentally take a selfie of your life and then take a hard look at it yourself. Are you where you want to be in life? Are you surrounded by those that you really want to be with in life? Are you doing the things that you really want to do in life? Take a good hard look at your life-selfie and ask yourself those questions and more. As Socrates said – “The unexamined life is not worth living.” A life-selfie may give you a way to examine your own life.

Oft times we get so swept up in the day-to-day activities of life that we fail to really think about why we are even engaged in them. We think it is normal to get up each day and get started again on the path that we were on yesterday. We have to work, even if we don’t particularly like our jobs, right? We have to interact with the people that we find ourselves with on a daily basis, even if we don’t particularly agree with them or even like them, right?  We have to continue our pursuit of the things that are defined as indicators of success, even though we may not really want them, correct? We just have to accept the lives that we are living and go on, yes?

The answer to all of those selfie reflections is no; we don’t have to just continue down the current path. We have been given a free will and the ability to change our direction at any time. The momentum of life may try to carry us along the old path, but we can break free and chose a different path. The key to making that decision probably starts with that life selfie and a critical evaluation of what we see in that picture of our life. That review doesn’t mean that you have to beat yourself up for past life decisions; but it does mean that you need to be brutally honest with yourself about where you are in life and where you really want to be.

Honestly deciding that you are not happy with your current path in life and then deciding that you will continue in that direction doesn’t make any sense; nor does dropping everything and making a radical change in direction all at once. The better outcome from examining an honest life-selfie would be to make a conscientious plan to make the changes that are needed as quickly as can be accommodated without total disruption in your life. Some things might be easy to fix immediately; perhaps stopping a bad habit or stopping your association with bad people who may lead you astray. Other things, like making a job change to find something that will both provide the necessary income and make you happier, could take a while and require careful planning. At least you will know that you have made that choice, based on your life selfie and you may start feeling better about the future right away.

One thing that a life-selfie might show you is how out of balance your life has become; how you have let certain aspects of your life take over and push out other aspects. Have the requirements of your work caused you to push aside the needs of your family? Have the requirements of your busy life caused you to push aside the time for your religion? Have the time commitments that you are pulled to make in your busy life caused you to lose having any time for yourself?

Local life coach and author, Norma Nicholson, has published a book called Living a Balanced Life which might give you some perspective, in addition to your life selfie, on the things that you might need to consider doing to change the direction of your life and get it back in balance. You can find out more about Norma at www.wiseowlenterprises.org. Norma’s advice in her book will help you see the areas that you need to give more priority to in your life to achieve a more balanced and satisfying life. It all starts with that life-selfie and the thoughtful evaluation of what you see there.

So, let’s all get our selfie-sticks, smile for the mental camera and take that life-selfie. Then take the time to reflect on what you see and whether that is what you had in mind for yourself. If you see things that need to be changed in your life, make a plan and start those changes. You don’t have to continue down a path that you don’t really like. Making changes, bused upon this evaluation of your life-selfie is not selfish; however, it is self-serving and that’s a good thing. The next time that you take a life-selfie, after you make those changes, I think you’ll find a different person smiling back at you.

Have a great and self-fulfilling weekend!