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Kicking Up Dirt Instead of Playing Kickball

I recently read that we spend about 33 percent of our life sleeping and another 30 percent working. It left me wondering how much time we spend in our house (counting sleep)...maybe 50 to 60 percent? We spend a huge amount of time in a relatively small area of space, like 144 square feet of a bedroom to be exact. It is pretty minuscule in comparison to the world equaling 5,502,532,127,000,000 square feet.

It feels a bit depressing when I think of life in these terms...that so much of life is spent in my room. It also showed me that my life and perspective can be pretty limited compared to all that is really happening out there in the world. I can feel so big at times yet it is finite when I realize that I spend 33 percent of my life in only 144 square feet of the world. 

What draws us out of the room? It seems that it is things, people, places, and events that compel us to get out. It is clear that we need both. We can't live our whole lives outside our room because we need sleep and rest. But we also do not want to live our life confined or limited. Otherwise we are creating our own prison. I think the same can be true with our emotions.

What if the amount of space we consume or limit in the material world is the same within our emotional world?  What if there is so much more out there to be experienced, loved, and nurtured yet we do not and cannot seem to leave the safety of our room?  I sometimes worry and legitimately believe that I miss it. I miss opportunities to put my heart on the line: to love, to care, to give, and to receive. I believe I miss them because often I'm to scared to open up, to acknowledge that I'm needy and vulnerable. 

It is like I'm a kid standing on the sideline watching other kids playing kickball.  I want to play but I'm too embarrassed to put myself out there so I resign myself to kicking up dirt feeling sorry for myself. The tragedy is that they even beckoned me to join their team. "James, come on and play. It will be fun." But I felt too ashamed and was worried that I would look like a baby so I chose isolation instead. 

But, what if it is not too late to still play the game. Every single time we interact with another person we have an opportunity to connect. We just have to make a decision. Do we want to be vulnerable enough to let them know we want to engage?   Maybe then we can see and know that we, our bodies, souls and minds, are so much more than 144 square feet!