The Meaning of Life Hour by Hour

So the majority of my working and personal life over the course of the last several years has revolved around some very honorable and worthwhile topics. What does it mean to be "called?" What is a "vocation?" What makes life worth living? How can people be more responsible with their personal choices and how they relate to community?

Put another way, like discussed in the old Billy Crystal "City Slickers" movie, "What is your one thing?"

Boy do I ever have a great job when I look at it that way. My office is my research lab. My students are my sounding board, my hopeful companions, my reason for learning, my reason for mental organization and communication. If there was not a need for these conversations and someone to act as a guide and facilitator on this human journey I believe my regular old 8- 5 would be far less enjoyable.

There are highlights to my day that I feel so completely blessed to participate in. Today for example I spent several hours preparing a presentation for faculty about academic advising from a vocational perspective. I had reviewed several books in preparation that I probably would have read for my own personal enjoyment anyway, and got to organize the information in a way that I hope will inspire faculty to have more meaningful interactions with their students.

While preparing my presentation I also used student work samples and quotes to emphasize to my audience what kinds of big questions and potential lay under the surface of an ordinary (maybe seemingly disengaged) student. Here are a couple gems,

Question- What are your big questions?
Answer:
"Am I going to have what it takes to graduate from College?"
"Will I be a good husband and father?"
"Will I be a courageous man that does what it takes to put others before myself?"

This is just a tiny little snippet of the goodness I see in students everyday. They have honest questions, concerns, and are often in the process of working diligently to answer those for themselves. This isn't every student of course, but these are the ones that fill my life with meaning and purpose.

I sometimes struggle with how to fill the days with more meaningful hours. My handsome husband is aware of this internal struggle and is a great listener. I have made the mistake the last few years of assuming that doing more things will bring more meaning. My day is not really 8-5. It's more like 8am- 8pm. My husband challenges me to think through that choice every so often.

Of the hours that I spend outside of my mandated office and teaching time there are some hours that I have found very meaningful.

I teach ballet to 6-7 year olds. I don't always enjoy the thought of leaving work to go do that but I always enjoy it once I'm there. They make me smile with their honesty and creativity. I love that I can build games for them to practice skills and engage their imagination with mine. How often do you get to play the pixie mushroom game in adult life and have it be a serious endeavor? Not often. I also teach a jazz class with 8-9 year olds. I can see I am more than a dance teacher, I have become a coach, a listener, mentor, and a role model.

My time with my son is meaningful. Now that he doesn't live with me full time, when I get a chance to see him I really work to provide a meaningful experience. I consciously work to provide the sort of atmosphere that encourages honesty, self reflection, good conversation, and plenty of chances for us to discuss choices and values. Being a mother has consistently been a meaningful experience for me.

My time with my husband is meaningful. Sometimes we are so overstimulated by the end of the day that our favorite thing to do is relax and watch an episode of whatever series we are currently exploring on Netflix. I also love walking with him, eating or preparing food with him, and exploring new places with him. When we talk with each other we become each others' sounding board, sparring partner, question asker, and trusted confession parter. There is no one I'd rather conspire to build a life with.

My teaching and student interactions are meaningful uses of my time. My hours at the studio are meaningful and important. My hours with my son are important. My hours with my husband are important.

But there seems like there are so many things that take up the hours of my day that are not meaningful or important at all. I'm just putting in time. Worse than that, sometimes I am completely consumed with things I can not change or find myself caught up in issues that are not truly worthy of my time.

I've got bigger fish to fry. Why am I bothered by a minnow here and there? How can something so unimportant distract me so easily from the things that are?

I'm working on mental discipline. It's a lot more difficult than physical discipline for me.

How would life be different if we focused the majority of our time on creating meaningful hours rather than just waiting for the meaningless ones to pass so we could engage in something more fulfilling?

What is a meaningful hour to you?

What are you doing instead?

Why?