What Gets You Up in the Mornings?

Who or what is the most important part of our lives? Why do we drag ourselves out of bed every morning?

Perhaps these questions never cross your mind. It is very easy and even expected that we just accept the daily routine and get on with it. Do we ever ask what this daily routine is all for? Is it all just about survival, or is there a greater purpose to it all?

All through the various stages of our education we are told to focus on our studies so we can get that college course, that will get us that job, that will get us that house, so that we can raise that family, plan for that retirement and hopefully have some money left over so to pass onto our children, so they can do the whole thing all over again for themselves.

Usually, someone says to us on this merry-go-round of living that the secret is to listen to your heart’s desire and believe in your ability to achieve and then you will succeed. In other words, put yourself first and don't let anyone or anything get in your way.

When does this cycle stop? Does it ever stop?

If this is a means to success, what kind of success is it a means to? Doesn't it sound all very self-absorbing, me first, mé féin. The character of Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol comes to mind. A man who had all the wealth and status his culture desired but lived a lonely, fearful life.

So what is the true definition of success? Can we value one person's success as greater than another's? Magazines focused on the so-called successful people of our day are filled with stories of their failures. Usually, the failure is a broken relationship, often where the person's children are in the middle of it. 

So ask these so-called successful people what success do they value? Is it their house, their bank account, or their relationships?

Isn’t our true meaning of success found in caring for and being positively involved in the people around us? Some may call it love. 

If we are in a relationship that has children, is there any greater call than to love your spouse/partner and your children?

Yes, we do need to work hard so as to provide for ourselves and our dependents, and not to be a burden to others. Is that in its own right a success? If provision is our only way to engage in a relationship, is that still just all about ourselves and not them?

So what does get you up in the morning? Is it to keep working towards some eventual endgame that you're not even sure what it is any more? Or is it to engage with your work for the sake of your relationships? Those your work helps provide for and your work colleagues.

Which is more rewarding: reaching your full potential or helping someone else reach theirs? Can it be that sharing in the joy of someone else's success adds to your own?

So is the need to put ourselves first to ensure our success a lie. Indeed, is there something greater to put first than our self-interest?