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Why Letting Go Is So Hard
When I was 9, I loved animals and was sure I would be a zoologist. At 13, I knew I would be a geneticist. By 18, a mechanical engineer (which is what I got my degree in).
I’ve never been a zoologist, geneticist, or even a mechanical engineer. For many years, I worked in distribution of durable goods and software development. I’ve also dabbled in the solar industry and have continued writing software.
I’ve been gainfully employed for more than 22 years, but I still haven’t figured out what I want to do when I grow up. Truthfully, that recognition after all these years does carry some regret with it.
I spend a lot of time making mental lists of things I need to do. In moments of clarity, I focus long enough to write some of those things down. The to do lists of life are endless.
For all the time we devote to our list of to do items, most of us don’t spend much time, if any, on to be lists. Being is something that, for many of us, just happens.
In April 2011, Lynn Robbins spoke to a group of more than 20,000 people about the notions of both being and doing. He said. . .
“To be and to do are inseparable.”
“To do without to be is hypocrisy, or feigning to be what one is not — a pretender.”
“Be without do really isn’t being —…
