Taking Out The Garbage and Being Great

Today is garbage day. Not exciting, not motivating, just has to be done. These little tasks  fill up our day and pull us away from the engaging stuff. Yet a word of warning here to myself and you, this is real life.

Blogs, self-help books and Hollywood would have us believe that we can have lives full of adventure and energy. Hollywood especially offers images of majestic landscapes in Nepal or eternal food orgies in Italy and suggests we go on our own perfect pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. These images and ideas plant the seeds of unrest. We want to have the picturesque life where wind blows our hair back at the perfect moment when we embrace our loved one. But let's get real.

Life is full of little stuff (unless you can afford full time staff). Dishes need to be washed, beds made (occasionally) and garbage taken out. In between writing the Pulitzer prize winning novel, or winning the next Nobel peace prize, laundry has to be done. And if we are not careful, life can fly by as we wait for the next moment when we will succeed, or feel good or have that perfect Hollywood moment.

Looking out my window right now I can see the path to the curb. I have to roll the garbage cans out to the street. Either that moment can be wasted as I long to be writing, or speaking, or having that perfect glass of wine on the deck (well, not at 7:00 AM), or I can enjoy the moment. It is Spring after all. The birds are singing. The sky is blue so far. The azaleas and dogwood are in bloom. The walk with the garbage is laden with beautiful sights and sounds. Either I can live the life I have or spend all of it wanting another life.

I am a real believer in personal greatness. It is something I strive for and try to help others achieve. Yet I've learned that moving toward something, any goal, or idealized life is no excuse for failing to be where I am. I have this life right here, right now. There are chores to do and little (sometimes irritating) tasks to do along the way. But if I spend my life wishing to be somewhere else, or wanting to be a different person, it will be wasted.

The discipline is to enjoy the little ordinary moments of our lives. The real secret of a happy life, is to choose to be happy in it, to find the beauty even in taking out the garbage.