Check The Software Program You Run In Your Brain

A wise friend once observed, “You become what you do.” I was reflecting on this the other morning while heading into work flowing along three lanes of Fort Wayne inbound traffic. All those drivers all of whom have a wide variety of interests and activities.

I’m surrounded by “horse people.” These folks allocate their time and resources taking care of horses, going to shows, maintaining barns, growing hay,keeping the truck and trailer in good repair, etc.

For others, their “passion” might be weekends at the lake or, say, pickleball or talking about politics. The options are infinite.

Sometimes what we do can cause us to go a little overboard. I once had a job in a rather intense organizational environment and some work related stress responses caused an episode of tachycardia during which my heart rate stayed elevated for a couple of weeks. Only when I said (to myself,) “Screw it,” and persuaded my stubborn brain to concur, did things return to normal.

The point is that it’s a good idea to cultivate some cognitive distance and periodic detachment from what we’re doing and re-examine how we invest our time and energy. Activities, interests and “passions” are all good things. At the same time, it helps to look beneath the “software” we’re running and pay attention to maintaining the “hardware.” Life is relatively short. There will come a day when we won’t be playing pickleball.

There is an infinite array of available options. Taking time to be reflective about which ones we commit to is a worthwhile effort.