What Makes You Feel Alive?
Recently I was feeling a little bit meh. I wasn’t super sad and I wasn’t super happy. I was just… “meh”. Unmotivated. Apathetic. Going through the motions.
Have you ever felt this way?
It’s jarring, isn’t it?
You feel like something’s missing in your life, but you can’t put your finger on it. Each day is spent just existing, instead of truly living. Something’s wrong, but you don’t know how to fix it.
Vibrancy: My Forgotten Core Value
Fortunately (and completely randomly), while I was stuck in this “meh”, I had agreed to connect with a coach friend to revisit our values. If you missed my series on core values, you can learn about my ‘mining for values’ process here in my blog.
My coach friend came prepared with a series of questions that opened up new territory for me. I ended up uncovering and remembering a value that I had named previously, but it didn’t make the cut of my top 6. It had fallen off my radar.
The missing value was “vibrancy”.
What does that mean?
For me, vibrancy means having that electric zing that causes me to pop out of bed each morning with enthusiasm for the day ahead. It means eating well and moving my body so I can be healthy and active. It means maintaining my focus so I can make a bigger impact.
As I write this, I’m realizing just how ephemeral and hard it is to describe this value of vibrancy.
In the process of working with this idea of vibrancy, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I hadn’t been fostering vibrancy in myself. Lately, my daily life had become reduced to a monotonous checklist instead of a vibrant experience.
The Little Things: Feeling Alive Again
Later that day after meeting with my friend, I headed out for an evening walk to get some exercise and commune with nature. The forecast looked clear, but while I was walking, a rain shower popped up out of nowhere.
I was more than a mile from home, so there was no need to make a mad dash. I was going to get soaked no matter what.
I paused to feel the rain landing on my face and arms. I fully experienced the cooling effect of this gentle shower on a hot day. I observed the sensations of the water running down my skin.
It was a form of the “Anytime Anywhere Meditation” I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.
And I felt truly alive.
It took me by surprise because it felt so different from where I had been just an hour earlier. I wasn’t expecting it.
The experience caused a shift in me. The next day I dove into my projects with renewed vigor. I felt fully present for my coaching calls. I began to leave behind that chapter of “meh”.
I know the “meh” will visit me again. That seems to be the case for all of us to some extent and from time to time. We experience the “meh” days so we can, by contrast, know how special it is to feel truly alive—to feel vibrant.
Putting It Into Practice
Today’s email is more of a personal reflection than my regular insights or leadership prompts. But I think it’s worth sharing, because it’s a very human experience that we all can relate to and understand.
On the heels of this experience, I have two questions for you all…
- What’s a value you’ve been ignoring in your own life?
- What’s a small action or mindset shift that would make you feel truly alive?
I can’t wait to hear from you.