Are you drifting through your life?

Every once in a while, when the weather is warm and sunny, Richard and I drive to the canals along Naples in Long Beach, California. 

We rent a 2-person kayak so we could be in the water while we ogle at some very nice houses and yachts that line the neighborhood canals. (I imagine this is what Venice, Italy, looks like, but a-la-Los Angeles.)

We start off kayaking full of energy and with intention. 

We yell out to each other, "Stroke! Stroke!," as we time our oars so we’re moving efficiently in the direction we want to go.

At some point, though, our arms get tired and we poop out. 

That’s when we find our kayak slowly drifting.

When we’re not moving our oars in the water, we’re like sitting ducks, bopping along wherever the waves or the wind want to take us. 

Sometimes we’ll head straight into a parked boat or pier, or run into other beginner kayakers who are trying to figure out how to steer these water vehicles.

Other times we’ll just be sitting in the middle of the water, not moving at all, simply drifting without any direction.

Kayaking can be an illustrative metaphor for how you approach your life.

Have you ever found yourself feeling like you’re drifting, in some area of your life?

Drifting shows up as feeling like your life isn’t going anywhere purposeful, like you’re simply going through the motions.

You wake up, go to work, come home, sleep, and the cycle starts all over again.

You wait to see what happens, hoping and praying for something exciting to come along.

Other times you might be throwing your hands up in the air, simply saying, “It is what it is. What can I do about it?”

I’ll tell you, I don’t believe anyone intentionally wants to drift through their life.

But for some reason, some people wake up one day, wondering, “How did I get here? What happened to the dreams I once had? Where did all my life goals go?”

It can feel very frustrating, maybe even heart-breaking, to come to this realization.

So what do you do when you find yourself drifting through life?

Well, here’s what Richard and I did on our kayak journey. 

After resting our muscles and drifting on the water, we knew we had to do something or else we’d be sitting there for the rest of the day. 

We turned to each other in our kayak and asked, “What do you want to do now?”

It seems like a such a simple question.

“What do you want?”

But this simple question is one that so many people don’t ask themselves.

If you’re drifting in your career, what kind of work would you love to do?

If you’re drifting in your finances, where do you want to be with your money?

If you’re drifting in your relationships, what are the kinds of relationships you want to have and who do you want to have those relationships with?

If you’re drifting in terms of your health, what changes do you want to make?

If you’re drifting in your life in general and feeling like you're not where you want to be, then who is the person in your heart that you are being called to be?

What happens in many cases is that instead of asking these questions I've laid out, many people have resigned themselves to the idea that there’s nothing they can do.

So they don't even know they can ask the question. They figure there's nothing to be done.

But there is something you can do, and that’s to ask yourself the simple question.

"What do you want?"

When you take the time to ask yourself what you want, in any situation in your life, the pathway forward starts to become a little more clear.

You sense a spark in your soul and you realize there might be a destination you're being called to go to.

Then, all you need to do is take the first step.

Or, in our kayaking outing, the first row.

If you’re wondering what Richard and I decided to do after drifting in the water, we got the inspiration to treat ourselves to some hot chocolate at the nearby shopping center. 

This meant that we had to kayak another 20 minutes to get to the shopping center. (Fortunately, they had a pier where we could park our kayak.)

After we bought our hot chocolates, we sat with our feet dangling at the pier, right next to our kayaks. We basked in the sun while we sipped our sweet treats. After we finished our drinks, we kayaked for another 30 minutes to return to our kayak rental.

All in all, we had an exquisite, and very memorable, day.

Now, how about you?

Is there anything you can do to make sure you don’t find yourself unintentionally drifting through life?

You don’t have to think of something major to change at this point, if you don’t want to. 

You can start small and ask yourself a simple question.

For today, what would you want to do to bring a little sweetness and joy to your day?

When you ask yourself what you want, and you take action to move towards that, you’ll find that you're no longer drifting.

You’ll actually find yourself in the driver’s seat of your own life.

Abundant Blessings and Namaste.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about today's article. Please feel free to leave a comment below.

And if you’d like support in getting clear on how you can create more energy expansive life, I can help. You can set up a complimentary life coaching consultation. Click here for more information.

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