Have you ever felt paralyzed in a cycle of monotonous living? Is the very idea of being bored terrifying?
I have often wondered about the space between the highs and lows of life. It can feel beyond uncomfortable to settle into a quiet, contented pace of living.
Our highlight reels and low points in life are often what stand out as being important and poignant times along our life journey. Yet so much more of our existence is spent living ‘in between’ life’s highs and lows.
I am noticing more and more that I feel most alive when I am ‘undoing’ and ‘simply being’ in life.
Here are 3 practices I use to embrace mediocre living as one of life’s great blessings. If these ideas resonate, give them a try and see how they feel for you.
1) Embrace Your Being
Our highs and lows have a way of taking our breath away. This feeling is captivating, so we can start to believe we are meant to be living with intensity at all times. When the intensity of the ride inevitably fades, we often feel a void. The act of ‘simply being’ can then feel completely unnerving.
When we view our discomfort or boredom as an invitation to embrace life, we start noticing the treasures that exist in the quieter, more peaceful states of living.
This doesn’t mean we won’t still have periods of celebration or sorrow. Rather, we will begin to see mediocrity as a gift of time and space to witness life and connect deeper to ourselves. When we embrace being inside mediocrity, we come alive with a feeling of awareness and gratitude.
2) Lean Into Uncertainty
Searching for certainty in an uncertain world, is the surest way to complicate our lives.
When life slows down, the pull to make sense of all the noise also wanes. Instead of ramping life up when quiet space comes, notice what happens when we lean into the uncertainty of what might come next. Rather than stirring up drama or making noise to be seen, settle into obscurity and see what changes.
Mediocrity comes from the Latin word, mediocritās, meaning middle state, or between two extremes. When we let go of the need to control what comes next, we make room for the gifts life will bestow on us in these middle states.
3) Allow the Feeling of Simplicity to Unfold
The highs and lows in life are intense in different ways. Both of these states have a way of sweeping us off our feet. It often feels easier to be in a high state or low state because we jump in knowing we are in for a ride.
This same feeling of excited invitation can be applied to mediocrity. We can welcome the space to simply be. Rather than viewing mediocre living as dull and drab, we can give ourselves the gift of experiencing the soft, peaceful state of simplicity.
Allowing simplicity to unfold, has a way of helping us see everything we once viewed as ordinary, is actually extraordinary. There is nothing lifeless or dreary about living life in mediocre spaces. Give it a try.
Emily Madill is the author of 11 books in the area of self-development and empowerment, both for children and adults. Her newest title ‘Fall in Love with Your Life, One Week at a Time’ is now being offered as an E-Course.
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